New Delhi: Japan, a pioneer in bullet train
operations, today committed to "work closely" with the Indian
government in its proposed high speed projects in the country.
An extensive deliberation was held in this regard between
visiting Japanese Minister for Land Infrastructure, Transport
and Tourism Takeshi Maeda and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi,
according to Railway sources.
Trivedi is understood to have said that there is an
increasing demand for high speed trains in the country in view
of its growing economy as well as the demand from a larger
section which aspires such service.
The Japanese minister is believed to have assured his
country's support and expressed desire to work closely with
India which has identified six high speed corridors in the
country, sources said.
Maede led a delegation which included senior deputy DG of
Japan's Railway Bureau Akhihiko Tamura, President, East Japan
Railway Company Satoshi Seino, chairman of Kawasaki Heavy
Industry Tadaharu Ohashi and Ambassador of Japan to India
Akitaka Saiki among others.
The meeting was also attended by the Railway Board
Members led by its chairman Vinay Mittal.
Japan's External Trade Organisation and Oriental
Consultancy along with Parsons Brinkhoff India has bagged the
contract to conduct pre-feasibility study of the
Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Chennai corridor, one of the six
corridors identified by Indian Railways for high speed train
operations.
Railways has already announced to set up a National High
Speed Rail Authority (NHSRA), the approval of which is
expected to be placed before the Union Cabinet this year.
The other corridors are Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Delhi-
Chandigarh-Amritsar, Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna,
Howrah-Haldia and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Trivandrum.
Japan is schedule to make a detailed presentation about
high speed train operations here tomorrow.
There had been efforts from both sides in last one year
in the direction of High Speed Train System.
A delegation led by DG for International Affairs of Japan
Ryuhei Maeda had visited Delhi in October 2011 and held
interaction with Trivedi and Railway Board officers.
This was followed by a visit of Indian Railway officers
to Japan to have first hand understanding of Shikansen system.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 22:28