A committee headed by technocrat Mr Sam Pitroda has been asked to come up with suggestions to modernise Indian Railways, said Mr Dinesh Trivedi, Union Minister for Railways.
“We want a big leap forward for the railways. Mr Pitroda who revolutionised the telecom sector will help us to use fourth generation technology to improve the railways,” said Mr Trivedi.
On the agenda
The focus would be on tracks, signalling, rolling stock, stations and terminals. Issues concerning organisation especially management, resource mobilisation and professionalisation of manpower would be considered by the committee.
Providing capability for safe, secure and productive freight and passenger trains would also be on the agenda, the Minister said. Modern signalling technologies would be explored for maximising track utilisation and high speed operations with safety, he added.
The committee is also expected to address issues relating to PPP on process management, bidding and unused railway assets.
The Government wants to upgrade the railways infrastructure with latest services and facilities, he added.
The other members of the committee include Mr Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Bank; Mr M.S. Verma, former Chairman SBI; Professor Raghuram, IIM-Ahmedabad; Dr Rajiv Lal, MD, IDFC and Mr Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, Feedback, Infrastructure Services Ltd. The group is expected to submit its recommendations by December.