MoU with Sweden on rail sector gets Cabinet nod

The Union Cabinet today approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Sweden for technical cooperation in rail sector particularly in running goods trains in cold weather conditions.
The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its ex-post facto approval to the agreement signed between India and Sweden on February 15.
"Sweden, being a cold country, has expertise on freight operation in freezing weather. Railways is also aiming to operate freight during the cold weather condition, so the cooperation with Sweden is in that direction," a senior Railway Ministry official said.
Besides, railways also aims to acquire Swedish expertise to run semi-high speed train on its existing tracks.

The MoU envisages benchmark of railways policy development, regulations, organisation and specific characteristics for each country.
It will also facilitate bilateral exchange of knowledge, technical expertise, innovation, technology, sustainable solutions and research in railways.

Other co-operation projects under the MoU involve freight operations in cold regions, tilting coaches/trains, capacity allocation (time tabling) and optimisation of maintenance and improved freight/combination traffic.
Training and continuing education programme in reliability and maintenance of rail transport system for railway engineers and managers are other areas.
Railway Ministry has signed MoUs for technical cooperation in the railway sector with various countries and foreign railways. The identified areas of cooperation include high-speed corridors, raising speed on existing routes, development of world-class stations, heavy haul operations and modernisation of rail infrastructure.

The cooperation is achieved through exchange of information on developments in areas of railways technology and operations, knowledge-sharing, technical visits, training and seminars and workshops in areas of mutual interest.