Japan has shown interest in railway station development and a official team will come to India to identify opportunities.

This is the immediate outcome of railway minister Suresh Prabhu’s visit to Japan. He had led a high-level consultation delegation to Japan from September 7 to 9 and invited the Japanese to share technology solutions in the Indian railways $140 billion five-year action plan. The railways plan to develop 400 stations in the country.

The bilateral meeting with Japanese prime minster Shinz Abe, along with other key ministers of the country from finance, economy, trade, transport and tourism etc, concluded with agreements on technology cooperation between with Japan for modernisation and up-gradation of railways, a press release of the ministry said.

The Japanese expertise will be available to India in attaining zero-accident mission of IR, followed by the development of a legal and regulatory framework on high-speed rail (HSR).

A big spinoff from the cooperation is towards solving sanitation problems faced by the railways. The Japanese technology in the development of waterless, odorless toilets in trains and at stations will make travelling less tedious.

The meeting also paves way for an agreement between research designs and standards organisation (RDSO), Lucknow and railway technical research institute (RTRI), Japan.