India, Italy sign MoU for technical cooperation in rail sector

NEW DELHI (INDIA): Ministry of Railways and Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group (FS Group) a Government Company of Italy managing the Italian railway sector have signed an MoU for technical cooperation in rail sector especially in the areas safety in train operations.nnOn behalf of Ministry of Railways the agreement has been signed by  Vinod Kumar, Executive Director/Safety(coordination), Railway Board whereas it has been signed by Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of FS Group, Italy.nnThe cooperation areas identified in this MoU includes safety audit of Indian Railways and measures required 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 diagnostic etc.nnThe MoU comes in the backdrop of emphasis given by Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Minister of Railways, Govt. of India on safety in railway operation. He has directed Railway Board to collaborate with the international experts on this subject and identify the best practices in this field.nnFerrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group (FS Group) is a fully owned company of the Italian Government working in the Railway Sector and is under Ministry of Treasure, Itlay. The Group, with its technical and managerial railway expertise, widely recognized at international level, is one of the most advanced worldwide player in many field, such as design and realization of High Speed and Conventional Lines, Safety Systems, Certification, Training and Operation and Maintenance.nnThe whole group currently employs about 69,000 persons 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.nnFS Italiane Group, through its controlled companies, has been working in 5 continents, in more than 60 countries, with branches in : Abu Dhabi, Riad, Muscat, Doha, Istanbul, Alger, Bucharest. FS Italiane has controlled companies in many countries, among the others in France, in Germany, in Serbia.