Japan likely to commence training on Indian Railways Accident Investigation next month: Katsuo Matsumoto

New Delhi: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Ministry of Railways (MOR), Government of India (GOI) held 2nd Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting for Capacity Development on Railway Safety to review and discuss the current and future activities. The Technical Cooperation (TC) project that commenced in December 2018, would be implemented during the next one and half years.

This TC is expected to enhance the capacities of the Indian Railways (IR) and the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) with regard to the safety of the railway’s network, especially in the fields of Rails welding, Track maintenance, Rolling stock maintenance, Accident Investigation and Safety management.

At the JCC meeting, every progress and issues were discussed including the feedback by JICA Experts on Railway Accident Investigation about their field survey and experiences. The contents of the training program in Japan for Accident Investigation, scheduled in early July 2019 were also discussed. The training programs in Japan in all fields mentioned above will be conducted within the fiscal year 2019.

The JCC was co-chaired by T. P. Singh, General Manager, Northern Railway cum Project Director of the TC Project and Mr. Yukihiro Koizumi, Deputy Director General, Infrastructure and Peace Building Department of JICA Head Office, along with Dr. Makoto Ishida, Chief Advisor of the TC Project and two JICA Expert on Railway Accident Investigation (Japan Transport Safety Board, Government of Japan).

Speaking on the occasion, Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative, JICA India Office said, “The Indian railway network is one of the largest in the world, therefore appropriate maintenance for safer and reliable operations has got utmost priority. Through this TC Project, JICA Experts and Indian side are jointly working and currently planning training programs in Japan for sharing Japanese knowledge and experiences in various aspect of railway safety. We expect that the training programs in Japan for Accident Investigation, scheduled in early July, would be functionally useful for IR and DFCCIL to promote safe operations. ”

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