Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Railways is visiting France on 11th and 12th April, 2016 and Germany from 13th to 15th April, 2016. During his visit to France, Shri Prabhu will be addressing the Emerging Market Forum in Paris on 11.04.2015 and he will be meeting Mr. Alaon Vidalies, French Minister of State for Transport, Marine Affairs and fisheries to discuss bilateral cooperation programmes.
Two important cooperation projects are going on, for which Protocol with SNCF France signed during the visit of Hon’ble PM to France in April, 2015 viz.
(i) Semi High Speed project of increasing speeds of Delhi-Chandigarh (245 km) to 200 km/h from the existing speed of 110 km/h – Technical and Execution study which is jointly funded on 50-50 basis.
(ii) Station redevelopment of Ambala and Ludhiana stations based on French experience – jointly funded study on 50-50 basis.
A discussion on above projects and future cooperation programs will also take place with SNCF officials.
During his visit to Germany Shri Prabhu will be meeting with German Federal Minister for Transportation and Digital Infrastructure and will discuss cooperation between Germany and India in the field of Rail Sector. The German expertise in the field of High Speed Rail, Speed Raising of existing routes, Station development, Multi modal logistics terminal and Automobile logistics are of interest to India. Feasibility study of one corridor for High Speed Rail as per German model is under discussion with German side.
Shri Prabhu will also be meeting German rail industries.