Press Release

New Delhi, May 25, 2022: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Ministry of Railways (MOR), Government of India (GOI) held the 6th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting for Technical Cooperation (TC) project of Capacity Development on Railway Safety to discuss activities and achievements so far. This TC project, commenced in December 2018, is being jointly implemented by Indian and Japanese side, and is expected to result in enhancing capacities of Indian Railways (IR), Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) and Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) with respect to safety of railway network in India. The Indian railway network is one of the largest in the world, therefore maintenance of safer and reliable operations is of utmost priority.

This was the final JCC of this Technical Cooperation, and the activities and achievements during the past 3 years and 5 months, starting from December 2018 until May 2022 have been summarized at this JCC. In 2019, before the Covid-19 outbreak, JICA invited officials from IR, DFCCIL and CRS to attend training programs in Japan, focusing on Track Maintenance, Rail Welding, Rolling Stock Maintenance and Accident Investigation. These training programs in Japan highlighted good practices of Japanese railway maintenance works and Japanese knowledge and experiences for Indian officials. During these training programs, Indian officials came forward in preparation of Safety Action Plans to improve the quality of maintenance work in their respective fields, and have been implementing Safety Action Plans after visiting Japan.

The JCC was Co-chaired by Mr. Ashutosh Gangal, General Manager, Northern Railway cum Project Director of the TC Project and Mr. SAITO Mitsunori, Chief Representative of JICA India, along with Dr. Makoto Ishida, Chief Advisor of the TC Project.

In addition to the JCC, JICA Experts visited Railway Design and Standard Organization (RDSO) of Indian Railways, last week, for the demonstration and training of Non-Destructive Test of Ultrasonic Rail Flaw Detection (URFD) method, arranged for Double-Probe technique which is originally developed by Railway Technical Research Institute in Japan. Using the equipment of the Double-Probe technique, characteristics of the rail flaws specific to rail welds were thoroughly discussed between Indian officials and JICA Experts from May 17th to May 20th, 2022.

With regard to activities related to Rail Welding, JICA Experts visited rail welding portion factory and training centre in Northern Railways during 2019, to identify the practices of rail welding in India and discussed various issues to improve the quality of rail welds from railway safety point of view. Subsequently, again during 2019, Indian counterpart team was invited to Japan to visit rail welding centre and working site in track and take lectures from Japanese railway experts. Based on the result of the discussions between Indian and Japanese counterparts, Japanese side has decided to provide RDSO with URFD equipment (SM-20R) of the Double-Probe technique, commonly used in Japan to enhance capacity improvement of railway safety.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. SAITO Mitsunori, Chief Representative, JICA India Office said, "Each group of this TC project in the field of Track Maintenance, Rail Welding, Rolling Stock Maintenance and Accident Investigation have been proactively implementing their Action Plan by utilizing learning from training programs in Japan and support of Japanese experts. We are pleased to hear that this Technical Cooperation has contributed to enhance safe railway environment in India and action plans could be functionally implemented to promote safe operations and appropriate maintenance in Indian Railway. Although, we are completing our TC project, we hope Indian Railways would continue to pursue their effort for Railway Safety."

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Makoto Ishida, Chief Advisor JICA expert team said, "The URFD method arranged for Double-Probe technique has a great impact and contribution on reducing rail weld failures in the history of development of rail welding technology in Japan. Currently, the Double-Probe method is very common among Japanese Railway operators. On the occasion of JICA Experts' visit to India, JICA Experts conducted technical demonstrations, trainings and lectures on URFD method to Indian counterparts. JICA Experts and Indian officials discussed in detail the mechanism of URFD technique focusing on the difference between Japanese and Indian practice. As a result, I am happy to inform that Indian counterparts have shown their positive intent for utilizing the equipment in order to reviewing Japanese Double-Probe technique for customizing the same to Indian Railways practice."

About JICA

Established by a specific law as an incorporated administrative institution under the Government of Japan, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) aims to promote international cooperation as the sole Japanese governmental agency in charge of ODA implementation. JICA is the world's largest bilateral donor agency. JICA works as a bridge between Japan and emerging countries, and provides assistance in the form of loans, grants and technical cooperation, so that the emerging countries can strengthen their capabilities.

• JICA India Office Web
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For further information, please contact:

JICA India Office
Shusaku Takada / Aishwarya Mishra
+91 11 49097000
Takada.Shusaku@jica.go.jp
Mishra-Aishwarya@jica.go.jp

Edelman India
Rakhi Aurora
(+91) 9599067185
Rakhi.Aurora@edelman.com