Centre to collaborate with Germany for better rail connectivity of domestic ports

Road Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said India would collaborate with Germany on projects for improving rail connectivity of Indian ports.

The two countries will work together on projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore being implemented by the Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd, an official statement said.

Gadkari on Friday met with his German counterpart and Infrastructure Minister Alexander Dobrindt and his delegation here.

Indian Port Rail Corporation and German Railways Deutsche Bahn (DB) signed a preliminary agreement, in January this year, for cooperation on modernisation of rail port connectivity and port rail facilities of Indian ports.

For efficient evacuation of cargo from the ports and reduce logistics cost, representatives of IPRCL and DB will identify areas of cooperation and potential projects, as also to identify cost effective new rail technologies that can be implemented.

This would help bring in foreign investment and cost effective, environment friendly, innovative technology for the port rail connectivity projects, the official statement said.

The minister added, Germany has also been invited to cooperate in the development of inland waterways, including manufacturing of barges.

In the transport sector, discussions were held on cooperation for developing vehicle scrapping capacity in India. India has invited Germany to share environment friendly technology for scrapping of old vehicles and also for processing of the waste thus generated.

Under the Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme, the government intends to scrap 15-year-old about 12-15 lakh heavy vehicles, mostly trucks and buses, in the first phase of implementation.