OREANDA-NEWS. April 13, 2015. Adding yet another milestone by fulfilling another commitment announced in the Railway Budget 2015-16, the Indian Railway will be setting up its own Railway Design Centre in the campus of National Institute of Design (NID), Ahemdabad. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Railways and (NID) in the presence of the Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce & Industries Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman at a function here today.

The signatories of the MoU were Shri Alok Kumar, Executive Director (Civil Engineering), Railway Board and Shri P. Vyas, Director, NID, Ahemdabad.This MoU has been formulated for setting up a ‘Railway Design Centre’ in the campus of NID. Ahmedabad, which will be operated by the interest accrued on the endowment fund of Rs. 10 crore. This endowment fund for this purpose is being deposited by the Ministry of Railways.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Suresh Prabhu said that Railways’ partnership with NID will lead to customers’ happiness by way of better designed coaches and providing cost effective solutions to problems faced by passengers during train travel. He urged the NID to work out on the most cost effective designs for coaches as our system is generally price sensitive and quality conscious. He also informed that with this initiative, Railways has fulfilled yet another commitment made in Railway Budget 2015-16 towards improving passenger services. He hoped that with the signing of this MoU, new designs for further improving the passenger amenities will be available and put into use soon on Indian Railways.

Addressing the gathering the Minister of State for Commerce and Industries (Independent Charge) Smt. Nirmala Sitaraman said that NID has been designated as an ‘Institute of National Excellence’ through an Act of Parliament and is an institute of national pride. She further added that the partnership between Ministry of Railways and NID will work for the benefit of rail passengers especially the old and physically handicapped by using innovative ideas and technology.

Speaking on the .occasion, the Minister of state for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha said that the NID under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is a prestigious institute which is capable of benefiting the Railways with its new innovative ideas and solutions towards improving passenger amenities. He congratulated both Indian Railways and NID for this new initiative and emphasised the need for greater synergy between the two organisations towards providing innovative solutions to the problems of railway customers by providing passenger friendly services.

Shri V. K. Gupta, Member Engineering, Railway Board, said that Railway Design Centre will be developing new concepts in design & innovations in various fields of Railway functioning, like passenger amenities at station areas and in trains, improvement to coach layouts, environmental issues, various maintenance tools, IT & Communication issues etc. It will be a win-win situation for both the organisations, while the Railways will be benefitted with improved concept, facilities, and assets, NID would also be benefitted with the real life projects and values to their academic and research programmes.

Prof, P. Vyas, Director NID while appreciating this move, said that NID will improve passenger services through innovative ideas focusing on people, environment and sustainability through this Research Centre.

This MoU will be for a period of 10 years, which can be further extended as mutually agreed. It is expected that desired results in a definite time frame will be achieved . Also present among others on the occasion were Smt. R. Ravikumar, Financial Commissioner, Railway Board and other senior officials from Ministry of Railway & Ministry of Commerce & Industry.