RAILWAYS minister, Ashwani Vaishnaw, unveiled a new Rail Tech Policy on February 26 that aims to usher in innovative practices to bring about improvements in Indian Railways’ (IR) operational efficiency, governance, safety and financial performance.
Vaishnaw says that the launch of a dedicated Rail Tech Portal will help develop fresh concepts using innovation to tackle challenges facing the rail sector. Identifying key areas, he says AI tools could be used to detect fires in passenger trains and animals such as elephants on the track in the northeastern states. Drones, similarly, could be used to detect track obstructions and broken rails.
The new portal promises a simplified single-stage process for submitting proposals, while scale-up grants have been increased by more than 200% alongside more funding for prototypes and field trials.
Recently, Vaishnaw announced measures to expand and improve Gati Shakti freight terminals, as well as plans to enhance onboard catering services on long-distance passenger trains. He also announced plans to full digitalise cases heard by the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) under the e-RCT programme.
Decade of reforms
In the last 10 years the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by prime minister, Narendra Modi, has initiated major rail reform measures including the 2017 merger of the separate railway budget with the national budget, the creation of Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRKS) in 2017 to provide dedicated safety funding, the foundation of the Rail Development Authority in 2017 and the restructuring of the Railway Board in 2020. However, IR has not always followed through on these initiatives.
In the last two decades, more than half a dozen expert committees have submitted reports on the safety and modernisation imperatives for IR. These include the Sam Pitroda report on rail modernisation and the Anil Kakodkar Safety Review, both completed in 2012, the Rakesh Mohan report of 2014, and the Bibek Debroy report of 2015. Only some of the recommendations have so far been implemented.
Last month, IR announced a year-long, structured programme to implement one major reform each week, with the objective of delivering systemic improvements in asset maintenance and operations by exploring new technology. The new Rail Tech Policy is one of these major reforms.
