India and Japan have signed an MoU on 12th
December, 2015 on cooperation and assistance in the Mumbai – Ahmedabad High
Speed Rail Project (referred by many as Bullet Train project). The
two countries have also entered into two comprehensive technological
cooperation agreements on 11th December 2015, for modernization and
upgradation of Indian Railways.
These agreements have been signed during the official visit to
India of His Excellency Mr. Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, during
December 11 – 13, 2015.
The details of cooperation envisaged in the three Memorandums are
as follows:
1)
MoU between India and Japan on cooperation and assistance in the
Mumbai – Ahmedabad HSR Project
India and Japan have signed an
MoU on 12th December, 2015 on cooperation and
assistance in the Mumbai – Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project (referred by many as Bullet Train project). Japan has offered an
assistance of over Rs.79,000 crore for the project. The loan is for a period of
50 years with a moratorium of 15 years, at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent.
The project is a 508 Kilometer railway line costing a total of Rs. 97,636 crore,
to be implemented in a period of seven years. It has been agreed that Shinkansen
Technology will be adopted for the project. The cooperation of Japan will be
fixed on transfer of technology and “Make in India”. Japan will assist India in
training of personnel for HSR.
2)
Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between Ministry of Railways and
MLIT, Japan on technological cooperation
Areas of cooperation:
(a) Railway Safety;
(b) Rolling stock including train sets/EMUs;
(c) Information sharing for station development and land value capture;
(d) Information sharing for environment friendly sanitation technology in
trains
(e) Signalling and telecommunication;
(f) Railway Electrification;
(g) Civil structure and railway track system;
(h) Train control system;
(i) Mitigation of natural disasters;and
(j) Any other areas jointly determined by both Sides within the scope of this
MoC.
3)
MoU on technological cooperation between RDSO and Railway
Technical Research Institute Japan
The main directions of cooperation between the Parties shall be the development
of rail-related technical cooperation in which the Parties may have mutual
interest, performance of consultation and other services,
The broad areas of technical cooperation may include:
(i)
Safety in train operation;
(ii) Advanced
techniques of maintenance;
(iii) Use of environment
friendly technologies;
(iv) Throughput enhancement
measures; and
(v) Any other area
jointly agreed upon by the Parties
Specific projects under the above cooperation areas and modalities of
cooperation will be jointly discussed and decided by the parties.
Background
Union Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu had wide-ranging
discussions on various aspects of railways - covering modernization, safety and
technology upgradation of Indian Railways - during his visit to Japan in
September 2015. He held discussions with the concerned Ministers of Japan and
met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On the investment requirements of Indian
Railways, he had discussions with leading financial institutions and investment
bankers and explained to them the 5 year USD 140 billion investment plan of
Indian Railways. He had discussions with Pension Funds as well, to seek their
investments in the Railways. Another focus was the Technology upgradation of
Indian Railways through cooperation of Research Designs and Standards
Organization (RDSO) of India and the Japan Railway Technical Research Institute
(JRTRI), both key railway research organizations.
The comprehensive technological cooperation as envisaged in the above
Memorandums are the result of the above discussions and follow-up.
AKS/DJM