Railways to set up innovation council dubbed ‘Kayakalp’

Railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu announced that Indian Railways intends to set up an innovation council called 'Kayakalp' for the purpose of business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovation in Railways.

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2015-16 in Parliament today, he said every dynamic and thriving organisation needs to innovate and re-invent its practices.

The railway minister informed the members that the government has conferred the Bharat Ratna on Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, and to mark the centenary celebrations of Banaras Hindu University, Indian Railways proposes to set up 'Malaviya Chair' for railway technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi. This chair will help in development of new materials to be used in all assets of Railways.

Indian Railways has decided to strengthen the Railway design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) into an organisation of excellence for applied research. RDSO would collaborate with institutions of repute. The railways will set up in 2015-16 four Railway Research Centres in select universities for doing fundamental research.

The minister stressed on the need to invest in fundamental and applied research for solutions to railway-specific issues.

The Railways also intends to set up a technology portal to invite innovative technological solutions.

He said informed a consortium of the ministries of railways, human resource development, science and technology, and industries on an investment sharing model is being set up as part of a technology mission for Indian Railways to take up identified railway projects for research.