As a major boost for the government's 'Make in India' initiative, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has envisioned unprecedented approach for the creation of a scientific and technological collaboration forum among the major government technical and scientific agencies for development of special materials and technologies for improving the Indian Railways.

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The aim is to reduce the Indian Railways dependence on other countries and give impetus to creation of new technologies within the country by creating an organized synergy between the major government bodies in the field of technological research and production.

A meeting was recently chaired by Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha to discuss this issue. The event witnessed guests from the ISRO, CSIR, DRDO, RDSO, Department of Science and Technology and Defence Production.

The areas in which Indian Railways sought collaboration were structural materials, paneling material for coaches, germicidal and wear resistant furnishing material, coating and special paints with better cleaning properties and pest control capability.It will also help in developing systems for the Indian Railways, which are best suited to the country`s local conditions and needs.

Additionally, it would create a constantly evolving rolling stock technology development process to create exportable products like coaches, locomotive, wagons, cranes and special vehicles etc.The meeting ended with the announcement of a permanent mechanism of Standing Intra Government Technical Collaboration Panel (SITCOP) to converge the government`s internal capabilities to create better and futuristic rolling stock for the Indian Railways with minimal foreign dependence in critical areas.