UIC Asia and Indian Railways jointly hosted the Seminar on Security Challenges and High Speed Development in Mumbai on 20 – 21 October. The seminar was attended by 150 officials from Indian Railways, UIC speakers from Asia, Europe and the USA, and UIC institutional partners such as the United Nations, the European Commission and IWGLTS.
The seminar was inaugurated by Mr Vivek Sahai, Chairman of Indian Railways, who stressed the need for suitable studies to develop a model of high speed systems in developing countries. He also emphasised the need for the railways and UIC to develop security systems which suit the requirement of mass transportation by rail. Mr Ranjit Sinha, Director-General of Railway Protection Force (RPF) in India, Mr R N Verma, General Manager of Western Railway, Mr Kulbhushan, General Manager of Central Railway, and Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director-General, were also present during the seminar. Mr Loubinoux stated that high speed solutions could be adapted to the reality of each country, as there is not just one possibility in a systemic concept for technical, commercial and social reviewing. Guest speakers from IR included Mr J F Rebeiro, Former Special Secretary to the Government of India and Former Director-General of CRPF, and Mr S R Mehra, Former Secretary for Security in India’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
During various sessions, issues on high speed development and security were discussed by the speakers and participants, ranging from high speed development around the world, how to develop high speed projects, as well as traffic forecasting and financing issues. With regard to security, presentations ranged from current threat perceptions and ways to tackle them, including empowering the forces and strengthening the legal framework. Technical debates and very detailed presentations were conducted by Inaki Barron, UIC Director for High Speed, and Jacques Colliard, UIC Head of Security.
On the occasion, UIC Asia proposed to launch a Security Experts Group to benchmark and follow-up the decisions taken. The delegates were also taken on a technical visit of the Churchgate and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus) railway stations in Mumbai, courtesy of Indian Railways.
All the presentations are available on the UIC website to all UIC Members: http://www.uic.org/baseinfo/reunion/reunion.php?id=62630.
