France to provide up to 7 lakh euros for railway station development in India

Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) on Monday entered into a tripartite agreement with French National Railways (SNCF) and French Development Agency (AFD), under which a grant of up to 7 lakh euros will be provided to boost capacity building for railway station development program in India.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Suresh Angadi, Minister of State of Railways, and Jean Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France in India and other senior officers of French Embassy and Indian Railways.

"Under this agreement, AFD, has agreed to provide in-kind grant financing up to 7,00,000 Euros, through SNCF-Hubs and Connexions as a Technical Partner to IRSDC to support capacity building for the Railway Station Development Program in India," said a statement released by the Indian Railways.

This will impose no financial liability on IRSDC or Indian Railways, the statement said.

"India and France have a strong and long standing prosperous partnership in the railway sector. French Railways (SNCF) in the past has been associated with Indian Railways in conducting speed upgradation study for Delhi-Chandigarh section and station development of Ludhiana and Ambala stations," Angadi said.

"I am sure that this effort will go a long way in further strengthening Indo-French cooperation and will help Indian Railways in positioning its stations to world class standards," he added.

On Twitter, Ziegler said, "Just after the signing ceremony of an Indo-French agreement to support India's modernisation of railways stations, @JBLemoyne (Lemoyne) met Shri @PiyushGoyal (Piyush Goyal) to discuss about the future of this cooperation! (sic)"