India and Germany to collaborate on rail safety

New Delhi, Oct 14: India and Germany on Friday decided to collaborate on railway safety and agreed to form a joint working group in this regard. According to the Railway Ministry, the agreement on formation of a joint working group was taken at a meeting between Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt. "On the suggestion of Railway Minister, it was decided that a joint working group of Indian Railways and German Railways will be formed to work on safety in rail operations," the ministry said in a statement. "The working group would look into the training, technology and processes for improving the safety. This working group on safety would be a deliverable on Inter-Government Consultations tentatively planned in Berlin in May, 2017." Besides, India requested that Germany extends its proposal of high speed (300 km per hour plus) rail study of Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai corridor to Vijayawada city of the Andhra Pradesh. "It was pointed out that high speed rail connectivity through Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai-Vijayawada corridor will give boost to the regional development and will link the states of Southern India," the ministry said. The German side expressed willingness to undertake feasibility study on speed upgradation on the existing Indian Railway network. The two sides held wide ranging discussions on areas speed raising, capacity increase of passenger and goods transport lines, safety, energy efficient rail operations, education and training, high speed rail, standards and norms and station development.