Tech Mission to boost Rly's IT vision

The Ministry of Railways has decided to set up the Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR) on an investment-sharing model for taking up projects for applied research and use in railways. The TMIR has been set up as a consortium, along with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Industries.

TMIR will function through mission implementation and coordination committee, comprising NS Vyas (former head of mechanical engineering, IIT-Kanpur) as its chairman and Railway Board executive director Alok Kumar as co-chairman.

“The panel will formulate the ‘mission management manual’ for the functioning of TMIR and the domain specific sub-committees for various fields of railway working and also for monitoring the progress of research and technology projects,” a official in the Ministry said, adding that the TMIR will also monitor the progress of research projects of the existing Railway Research Centre at IIT-Kharagpur and other four upcoming centres sanctioned in the 2015-16 Budget.

However, the Ministry has constituted an advisory council under the chairmanship of Som Mittal, former president NASSCOM, to prepare <g data-gr-id="18">IT</g> vision for the Railways. The terms of reference of the council will be to assist in developing a comprehensive IT Vision which will be in line with the overall vision and objectives outlined for Railways, to specifically integrate and cover passenger service, freight services, asset management and train operations, safety and security as well as operations/enterprise management of Railways.