Indian Railways, the National transporter has taken an important initiative in the field of innovation through the participation of start-ups and other entities. Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw launched “StartUps for Railways” on Monday, June, 13, in Rail Bhavan, New Delhi.
This policy will bring scale and efficiency in the field of operation, maintenance and infrastructure creation through the participation of a very large and untapped startup ecosystem. Speaking at the event, Vaishnaw said that the long-going discussions over the integration of technology into Indian Railways have taken today a firm shape in form of this initiative launched.
Expressing his happiness on the launch of this initiative the Minister said that through this platform start-ups will get a good opportunity to connect with Railways. Out of over 100 problem statements received from different divisions, field offices/zones of Railways, 11 problem statements like rail fracture, headway reduction etc. have been taken up for phase 1 of this program. These will be presented before the start-ups to find innovative solutions.
Railway Minister requested the startups to use this opportunity and ensured them of support from Indian Railways in form of a 50 per cent capital grant, assured market, scale and ecosystem.
Startups: Changing the rules of the game!
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) June 13, 2022
Indian Railways Innovation Program will bring scale & efficiency in the field of operation, maintenance & infrastructure through participation of a very large & untapped Startup Ecosystem.https://t.co/iGGFA6LrJu#StartupsForRailways pic.twitter.com/kdPsRPmSKj
Salient details of the Indian Railway Innovation Policy are as under:-
In May, field units were asked to provide Problem Areas. In response to it, around 160 problem statements have been received to date. To start with, 11 problem statements have been identified to deal with via the new Innovation Policy and uploaded on the portal.
i. Broken Rail Detection System
ii. Rail Stress Monitoring System
iii. Headway Improvement System for suburban section interoperable with Indian Railways National ATP system
iv. Automation of Track Inspection Activities
v. Design of superior Elastomeric Pad (EM Pad) for Heavy Haul Freight Wagons
vi. Development of online Condition Monitoring System for traction motors of 3- phase Electric Locomotives
vii. Light-weight wagon for transporting commodities like Salt
viii. Development of analytical tool by using digital data for improving passenger services
ix. Track Cleaning Machine
x. App for post-training revision & self-service refresher courses
xi. Use of Remote Sensing, Geomatics and GIS for bridge inspection
More Problems Statements have been collected from Railways, which are under scrutiny and shall be uploaded in a phased manner.
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