Indian Railways will be out in force at the upcoming Middle East Rail 2018 exhibition in Dubai, UAE, to talk about $140 billion worth of current and future rail projects that the Indian government is building to upgrade country’s urban transportation network.

Middle East Rail 2018, the largest railway industry event in the region, will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, UAE, from March 12 to 13 at Dubai International Convention Centre.

A high-profile delegation of railway officials and experts led by Mahesh Kumar Gupta, member Engineering at Indian Railway Board, will be at the event to highlight some of the opportunities available in the sector.

Indian Railways will also be represented by two of its overseas arms – Rites and Ircon International Limited. While Rites deals in consultancy of transport and infrastructure and export packages of rolling stock, the Ircon is mainly into construction of railway projects.

The Indian experts will share more details about the region’s largest railway network’s expansion plans and future growth prospects, besides outlining opportunities that the industry offers in the segments of metro, tram, monorail, long-distance freight and passenger train, and high speed rail.

The two-day event is being held in partnership with the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and the Federal Transport Authority - Land & Maritime.

Commenting on the show, Gupta said: "We will highlight some of our achievements, growth prospects and future projections during this two-day event. This kind of events help in creating awareness about gigantic organisations like Indian Railways, which deals in mega projects such as high-speed trains, dedicated freight corridors, electrification, capacity expansion and tech development."

"These are exciting times for railway industry. Since there are serious challenges in the road and air transportation sector, the upgradation of the railway infrastructure is the need of the hour," he added.

"Indian Railways has realised that accumulated backlog investment is the root cause of its inability to improve the market share or quality of services," explained Gupta, adding that major investments are now being made through budgetary allocation of ₹8.56 lakh crore in the financial year 2015-16, with contribution from gross budgetary support (₹2.56 lakh crore), internal generation (₹1 lakh crore), JV/cost sharing (₹1.20 lakh crore), PPP/partnerships (₹1.30 lakh crore), debt (₹2.50 lakh crore), rolling stock lease (₹1.00 lakh crore) and institutional funding (₹1.5 lakh crore)," he added.
 
According to him, Indian railways aims to concentrate on major investment projects in the areas of dedicated freight corridor, high speed rail, modernisation of signalling system, track and rolling stock maintenance with major emphasis on safety.

"Our future plan is to focus on electrification, 100 per cent use of LED lights, ETCS level II of signalling and high speed technologies," revealed Gupta.
 
On the opening day, chief engineer Ankala Saibaba will talk about one of India’s mega railway projects, whioch will boast over 45 tunnels and 125 major bridges, being built at a cost of $1.7 billion,.

Saibaba will share various challenges associated with designing and constructing the world’s tallest railway bridge, besides showcasing state-of-the-art technology adopted by Indian Railways.

He will also highlight some of the forthcoming major railway projects and the vast opportunities that are up for grab for the international companies.
 
Jayanth Pandey, the assistant general manager, Metro Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad, will share more details about Ahmedabad Metro Phase One during a roundtable interactive session on day one.  

While, on day two, Sanjay Kumar, the chief engineer (signalling and telecommunications) Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, will take part in a panel discussion titled Asset management 4.0: to outthink, outcompete and outperform.

He along with other experts from the UAE, Singapore and South Africa will deliberate upon how to implement a robust rail asset management strategy in the age of digitalisation.
 
A major regional industry event, Middle East Rail had recorded 64 per cent repeat exhibitor bookings for 2018 edition, bringing over 290 regional and international railway operators, suppliers and contractors to present their services to potential buyers and nurture professional networks.

Keeping up with the industry trends and to accommodate increased interest, the show has expanded in scope for the 2018 edition. The organising committee has introduced two new streams that will feature Passenger Information Systems and Transport Ticketing Systems that cater for the needs of modern passengers.
 
Industry experts from Europe, Middle East and Asia will share insights on privatisation, digitalisation, modernisation and pioneering the future of Mobility 4.0. throughout two days of keynotes, open discussions and research sharing sessions.-TradeArabia News Service