November 19, 2001
'23'US TO PROVIDE $ 400 THOUSAND TO INDIAN RAILWAYS INDIAN RAILWAYS FOR INVESTMENT PLANNING
The United States will provide a grant of US $ 400,000 to the Indian Railways to be utilised for further development of its Geographic Information System (GIS) based strategic investment planning techniques . An Agreement to this effect was signed by Sh. H.G. Sharma, Executive Director on behalf of the Ministry of Railways and Mr.Samuel Kidder, Commercial Counselor in the US Embassy on behalf of the US Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) in the presence of the Chairman, Railway Board, Sh. R.N. Malhotra and other senior officials here today.
Indian Railways has been using scientific techniques of project evaluation as a part of the Long Range Decision Support System (LRDSS) Project. The first phase of the project was completed with the assistance of the World Bank and the success of this phase motivated the second phase fully financed by Indian Railways.
The US grant will be used for the Third phase of the project which have a total cost of US $ 1.02 million. Indian Railways have constituted a seven-member team consisting of specialists to work with a team of international consultants. They will undertake detailed analysis of traffic patterns and terminals to identify bottlenecks and binding constraints to suggest optimal investment strategies. This phase will also include the analysis of a transport corridor with a view to increasing rail competitiveness vis-à-vis other modes of transport. This study will also involve estimation of critical efficiency parameters and setting of operational standards for improved asset utilisation.
This major agreement between Ministry of Railways and USTDA is yet another example of scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries with the objective of improving allocation of scarce resources.