Railways, HRD and S&T Ministry ink MoU on Technology Mission for Indian Railways

Three Ministries viz. Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and Ministry of Science & Technology have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint funding of Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR).

Features of MoU

The MoU aims to facilitate co-financing of (TMIR) by investment sharing for identified railway projects for applied research. The percentage division of the funding between the three ministries for Technology Mission for Indian Railways’ is Ministry of Railways: 30% , Ministry of HRD: 25% and Department of Science & Technology: 25%.
Under the MoU, Ministry of HRD and Ministry of S&T have agreed to fund TMIR projects to the tune of Rs 75 crore each while Railways and Industries would also be contributing to their respective shares.

Technology Mission for Indian Railways

The Ministry of Railways had set up TMIR as consortium of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of HRD and Ministry of Science & Technology on investment sharing model for taking up identified railway projects for applied research and use on Indian Railways. TMIR is tasked to take up research and development projects in the areas of heavy haul, safety, energy, environment and urban railways. These projects will be implemented through Mission Implementation and Coordination Committee having members from the three Ministries, academia and industry. Moreover, these projects will be implemented in the national research and development labs and academic institutions. Moreover collaborations will be also entered with foreign institutions wherever essential.

Significance

Indian Railways will be benefitted with availability of world class indigenized technologies at very reasonable cost through this consortium approach for technology development in mission mode. Moreover, academic research institutions will be also benefitted with applied research and real situation output in form of new products for immediate use. The Indian industries will also get benefited in form of production of new items to be used on Indian Railways with additional export potential.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2018