JICA initiative: Indian Railways officials complete railways safety training in Japan

Tokyo, Japan: The group of officials of the Indian Railways (IR), Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) and Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) has returned to India after attending the 2-week training session held in Japan.

Held between July 1 and 12, the training session titled as the “Knowledge Co-Creation program of Railway Accidents Investigation” included aspects like railway safety techniques and accidents investigation.

Under the ongoing Technical Corporation (TC) Project ‘Capacity Development on Railway Safety’, which aims to enhance the capacity of the IR and DFCCIL, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) invited officials from the IR and DFCCIL and also Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) to Japan to attend the training session there.

Accidents Investigation is considered very essential to improve railway safety by effectively investigating the cause of the accident and taking appropriate countermeasure to prevent recurrence of the accidents. This program organized by JICA has showcased the Japanese good practices, shared Japanese knowledge and experiences relating to accidents investigation and railway safety.

While in Japan, Indian officials visited Japan Transport Safety Board, East Japan Railway Company, Railway Accidents Exhibition Hall, Railway Technical Research Institute, and Japan Freight Railway Company, etc., besides witnessing the ongoing in-practice safe operations of the Bullet Train during this training program. After the detailed explanation and demonstration of various aspects by Japanese experts at each facility, Indian officials shared their views and approaches with Japanese experts through detailed interactive discussions thereby making the program lively, effective and impactful for replication of the good practices in India.

Speaking on the occasion M. P. Singh, Chief Development Specialist, JICA India Office, who accompanied the Indian delegation, said, “JICA Experts are jointly working with officials of Indian Railways, Commissioners of Rail Safety and DFCCIL based on mutual learnings and creating the implementable Action Plans for safer railway operations in India. This program was one of the best opportunities for the Indian side to understand Japanese knowledge and good practices including the impeccable safety experiences. It is hoped that this program would result in the preparation of the actionable short and long terms ‘Actions Plans’ and functionally useful in promoting and achieving the safe railway operations in India.”

This TC project would be implemented during the next one and half years, out of which another 4 training program in Japan in the field of Rail welding, Track maintenance, Rolling stock maintenance, and Safety Management would be conducted within the fiscal year 2019.