The Cabinet today approved a project to set up India's National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara in Gujarat.
A not-for-profit company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013, will be created by the ministry of railways which shall be the managing company of the proposed university, the ministry said in a statement.
The project has been pending for the past three years.
The company will provide financial and infrastructural support to the university, and appoint Chancellor and Pro- Chancellor of the university, the statement said.
A Board of Management, comprising professionals and academics, shall be independent of the Managing Company with full autonomy to perform its academic and administrative responsibilities, it said.
Officers say that the university plans to use latest pedagogy and technology applications such as satellite based tracking, Radio Frequency Identification and Artificial Intelligence to improve on-the-job performance and productivity.
"Existing land and infrastructure at National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) at Vadodara, Gujarat, will be utilised, and suitably modified and modernised for the purpose of the university.
"In its full enrolment, it is expected to have 3,000 full-time students. The funding of the new University/ Institute is to entirely come from Ministry of Railways," the statement said.
In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that a railway university was needed for the research and modernisation of the country's archaic railway system in particular, and transport infrastructure in general. It was subsequently included in the Railway Budget in 2014.
He had announced the decision to start the university on the NAIR campus in Vadodara in 2016.
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