India’s Bullet Train innovation centre gets academics from Tokyo University, Japan Railways

On Tuesday, the High-Speed Rail Innovation Centre formed by National High-Speed Rail Corporation organised a seminar at IIT, Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat. Achal Khare, Managing Director, NHSRCL and Dr. Norimachi Kumagai, President, Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) Japan addressed researchers, students, and faculty of the Institute and discussed the maiden HSR project in India and technological aspects associated with it. This was followed by a panel discussion where the advisory council members interacted with the young minds and also responded to the questions of students and faculty of IIT, Gandhi Nagar.

During his address, MD/NHSRCL Shri Achal Khare said, “India has long been a technological powerhouse and young Indian minds are bubbling with innovative technological ideas. NHSRCL would like to collaborate with them and provide them a platform to develop sustainable and indigenous technological solutions for High-speed railways in India.”

The High-Speed Rail Innovation Centre Trust has a mandate to undertake targeted, applied collaborative research to solve issues raised by the railway industry to enhance railway safety, reliability, productivity, efficiency, and sustainability in order to ensure customer satisfaction.

The trust will also leverage Indian technical capabilities and develop indigenous capabilities in relevant fields of High-Speed Railways to develop professional expertise in all aspects of High-Speed Railways so as to provide innovative, indigenous, cost-effective solutions, technological guidance, strategic analysis, and advice to the Indian Rail Transportation Industry on significant challenges and opportunities. The trust will also provide eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable solutions. It will also contribute to the development of HSR specific standards in India.

HSR Innovation Centre which was registered on January 22, 2019, is managed by a Board of Trustees Chaired by Managing Director, NHSRCL and supported by Executive Council, which is assisted by the Advisory Council to review nature of the projects to be undertaken by the Innovation Centre.

The Advisory Council comprises of eminent personalities from the industry, academia and research institutes both from India and abroad like IITs, University of Tokyo and JR East. The trust will adopt a collaborative approach for funding and the execution of research projects etc.

The Advisory Council comprises the persons of eminence from industry, academia and research institutes both from India and abroad like IITs, University of Tokyo & JR East. At present, the Innovation Centre Trust is considering research on the following projects in different streams.

• Design, Civil and Buildings: Optimization of HSR viaduct design from the seismic perspective, Developing of Reinforced Earth (RE) Retaining wall and RE Abutments and to develop an effective Fire Fighting system for HSR buildings and Developing a scientific model of selecting a new HSR corridor in India.
• Signalling and Telecommunications: Developing Application Software-based systems for automatic yard movement in HSR and developing indigenous capabilities in design and implementation of OCC and Signalling for HSR.
• Electrical: Developing Indigenous simulation model for design validation of Power Supply system & OHE.
• Rolling Stock: Development of Simulator to develop troubleshooting skills related to High-Speed Rolling Stock during training.
• Developing Skilled Human Resources: To design a Training module to improve cognitive abilities, skills for safety-critical activities in HSR.

The second advisory council meeting of the trust was on Tuesday at IIT Gandhinagar. At the council meeting, Dr. Norimichi Kumagai, President, Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI), Japan, Mr. Yasushi Ujita, Deputy General Director, International Division, RTRI, Japan, Dr. Chikara Yamashita, Manager, RTRI, Japan, Prof K.E. Seetha Ram, Visiting professor at the centre for Spatial Information Science, University of Tokyo, Japan, Prof. Amit Prashant, Officiating Director and Professor (Civil Engineering), IIT Gandhinagar Prof. Sudhir Jain, Professor, Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Prof. K.N.Satyanarayana, Director and Professor, Civil Engineering, IIT Tirupati, Shri Achal Khare, Managing Director, NHSRCL along with senior officials of NHSRCL deliberated on the project proposals received from various IITs and road map for targeted innovative, indigenous, and cost-effective solutions related to HSR building in India.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates