Mangal Dev, Head of Hitachi Rail Systems Co., India & South Asia Region affirms that the time is ripe for the development of a network of bullet train projects in the country. Speaking to INFRASTRUCTURE TODAY, Dev feels bullet train stations can easily be expanded into self-sustaining smart cities. Although there is no official confirmation from the company at this stage, Hitachi is reportedly in talks to identify an Indian partner to manufacture rolling stock for bullet trains.
In terms of the Indian Railways’ Mission Raftar, we were involved in the commissioning of the first high speed corridor between Delhi and Agra for the Gatimaan Express. Hitachi also participated in the train set tenders issued by the Railway Board. The Indian Railways has clearly announced its intent to embrace ICT to digitalise and consolidate all data on one platform for analysis to ensure operational efficiency. Since Hitachi has the experience of nearly 100 year in operations technology and another 50 plus year in ICT, we could add more value to the modernisation efforts by the Indian Railways.
The Railways addressed this concern when it launched the Indian Railways One Information and Communication Technology (IR-OneICT) digital platform so that the details can be appropriately analysed. But, we feel it needs to be given precedence again as it has moved down in priority over time. Integration is very important right from the level of train and signalling controllers to members of the Railway Board, who will be able to view the entire operation of the Railways in one snapshot.
- Manish Pant