Question : MoU between India and Switzerland

(a) whether any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between India and Switzerland for cooperation in rail sector in 2017;
(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether a high level delegation meeting was convened to review the progress made regarding cooperation in rail sector between the two countries;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the outcome of the said meeting thereon; and

(e) the details of sectors in Railways where Switzerland technologies have been adopted, approved by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation so far?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) & (b): Yes, Sir. Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Ministry of Railways of the Republic of India and Federal Department of the Environment, Transport and Communications of the Swiss Confederation on August 31, 2017 for technical cooperation in Rail sector with following areas of cooperation:
• Traction Rolling stock
• EMU and Train sets
• Traction Propulsion Equipments
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• Freight and Passenger Cars
• Tilting Trains
• Railway Electrification Equipments
• Train scheduling and operation improvement
• Railway Station modernization
• Multimodal transport
• Tunneling technology
• Any other area jointly identified by the participating countries.


(c) & (d) : Yes, Sir. The First Joint Working Group Meeting under the Memorandum of Understanding was held on October 21, 2019 in which areas of rolling stock, electrical sub-systems, system integration, overhead contact system (rigid catenary and retractable overhead equipment) and inter-modal transport were discussed.

(e): The details of some of the major items of Switzerland based companies which have been approved by Research Design and Standards Organisation and currently being used in Indian Railways are as under:
• WAG 9 and WAP 5 electric locomotives were imported from ABB Switzerland in early 1990s.
• Huber Schuner, a firm based in Switzerland is an approved supplier of cables for electric locomotives.
• Arthur Flury, a firm based in Switzerland is an approved supplier of short neutral section assembly and has been supplying to Indian Railways for the last 20 years.

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