[Title] India-Japan Cooperation in Railways

Mumbai Ahmedabad High Speed Rail

To revolutionize the connectivity in India and introduce the High Speed Rail, India and Japan are cooperating to construct the Mumbai Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR). Given the significance of the project, it is being monitored at the apex-level in the form of Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) presently co-chaired by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman NITI Aayog, from the Indian side and Dr. Hiroto Izumi, Special Adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the Japanese side.

The 8th JCM on MAHSR project held in Delhi on 17 September 2018 confirmed the steady progress of the project and it was also agreed that both sides will continue to advance mutual efforts to facilitate the smooth achievement of the project. Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr. Keiichi Ishii and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism Mr. Masatoshi Akimoto visited India respectively in December 2017 and in May 2018 from the perspective of MAHSR Project, including station area development such as the approach roads, station plaza and multimodal integration plan.

During the summit meeting, Exchange of Notes and Loan Agreement for the second tranche of Japanese ODA Loan for MAHSR Project were signed, following completion of JICA’s Appraisal Mission in September 2018 and signing of the Loan Agreement for the first tranche of Japanese ODA Loan between JICA and DEA on 28 September, 2018.

Current status: National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) is the implementing agency of the project. Final Location Survey of the project has already been completed. Based on final alignment, all underground & overhead utilities have been identified. The process of land acquisition has begun between Mumbai & Ahmedabad with target of completion by December 2018. Joint Measurement Survey has been completed for 328 km out of 487km. The entire project, including the High- Speed Rail training institute, has been divided into 26 contract packages, out of which 4 packages are already awarded. Multimodal Transport Integration Plan, an important component for creating a smart and sustainable integrated transport network, is ongoing for all the 12 stations. Memorandum for general consultancy has been signed by JICA with the Ministry of Railways, NHSRCL and JV of Japanese consultants and marks an important development in the project timeline.

Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)

Western DFC, a corridor of 1,522 km from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri visualized for reducing the congestion in the Mumbai-Delhi route, being executed through JICA funding.

Current Status: DFC has achieved overall 48% physical progress of civil packages and track laying of 802Km has been completed. Approx. 99% land acquisition has been made and tenders have been awarded worth Rs. 33,130 Cr (JPY 523 billion). Trial run of an Indian Railways Freight train was conducted successfully on 15 August 2018 on the 190km long Ateli-Phulera section of the DFC falling on the Jaipur Division of North Western Railway between the National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai and thus marked an important milestone in this game-changer project.

Future cooperation

(i) Make in India: In order to realize the Make in India objectives in MAHSR project, a Task Force comprising DIPP, Embassy of Japan, NHSRCL, MLIT and METI was constituted and recommendations have been agreed for four sub-groups i.e. Civil works, Track Works, Electrical Works (including Signal & Telecom) and Rolling Stock. Six train sets will be done under Make in India out of a total 24 train sets.

(ii) Training: A new High-Speed Rail Training Institute is being built at the National Academy of Indian Railways campus in Vadodara utilizing Japanese ODA Loan through JICA. Two contracts out of total Three have been awarded. Last tender of training institute was invited in July 2018 and is expected to be finalized by December 2018. The construction of Training Institute has started and it is planned to open by December 2020. In order to have sufficient human resources for operation of the important High Speed Rail Project, training of 480 Ministry of Railways and 120 NHSRCL officials for 2018&2019 was agreed to during the 7th JCM. Already, 287 young officers of Indian Railways have undergone training in Japan in 2017-18 about High-Speed Rail technology. Government of Japan has offered 20 seats per year for master degree course from the universities of Japan, for serving Indian Railways officials. At present, 17 officers are undergoing the Masters’ program in various universities and for the year 2019, applications have been called for 20 seats.

(iii) Upgrading infrastructure and technical cooperation: With Government of India’s renewed focus on ensuring safety of Railways, India has been cooperating with Japan to study its best practices in this area. Under JICA technical cooperation, a team of safety experts from Japan had visited Indian Railways to investigate the status of rail welding execution and safety management. “The Project for Capacity Development on Railway Safety” will be taken under Technical Cooperation to develop the capacities of the Indian Railways and Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited with regard to safety of the railway network on track maintenance including rail welding techniques and rolling stock maintenance for improving safety.