India Ropes in Italian Firm to Avoid Rail Accidents, Maintain Railway Safety

Indian Ministry of Railways and Italian state-owned Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group, managing the Italian railway sector, have signed on Thursday an MoU for cooperation in rail safety and train operations.

The MoU covers areas of safety audit of Indian Railways and measures for enhancing safety in train operation, Assessment and certification of advanced technology based safety products and systems to Safety Integrity Level (SIL4), Training and competency development with focus of safety, modern trends in maintenance and diagnostics.

The MoU comes in the backdrop of emphasis given by India on safety in railway operations, which have seen several derailments of late and sabotage bids, killing scores of passengers. The move was taken up by the Railway Board to collaborate with the international experts to identify the best practices in this field.

Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group (FS Group) is a fully owned company of the Italian Government working in the Railway Sector under Ministry of Treasure, Itlay. The Group was widely recognized globally for its most advanced expertise in fields of design and realization of High Speed and Conventional Lines, Safety Systems, Certification, Training and Operation and Maintenance.

The FS group employs 69,000 staff and operates more than 7,000 trains per day, carrying over 600 million/year of passengers and 50 million tons of freight on a railway network of more than 16,700 km.

FS Italiane Group is also operating in five continents, in more than 60 countries, with branches in Abu Dhabi, Riad, Muscat, Doha, Istanbul, Alger, and Bucharest. It has controlled several companies in countries such as France, Germany and Serbia.

The MoU was signed on behalf of the Ministry of Railways by Mr. Vinod Kumar, Executive Director/Safety(coordination), Railway Board and by Mr. Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of FS Group, Italy.