Indian Railway Innovation Policy- “Start-Ups for Railways”

1. GOI has declared a grant of up to ₹ 1.5 Crore to ‘innovators’ on ‘an equal sharing basis with the provision of ‘milestone-wise payment’.
2. The complete process from ‘floating of problem statement’ to ‘development of prototype’ is online with a ‘defined timeline’ to make it transparent;
3. ‘Trials of prototypes’ will be done in Railways.
4. ‘Enhanced funding’ will be provided to ‘scale up deployment’ on ‘successful performance of prototypes’.
5. Selection of ‘Innovators’ will be done by a ‘transparent and fair system’ which will be dealt with through an ‘online portal’.
6. Developed ‘Intellectual property rights (IPR)’ will remain with innovators only.
7. ‘De-centralization’ of the complete ‘product development process will be done at the divisional level to avoid delays.

Issues Identified

1. In the month of May 2022, ‘field units’ were asked to provide ‘Problem Areas’.
2. In response to it, around ‘160 problem statements’ have been received till date.
3. To start with, ’11 problems statements’ have been identified to deal via ‘new Innovation Policy’ and uploaded on the portal.

• Broken Rail Detection System;
  • Rail Stress Monitoring System;
  • ‘Headway Improvement System’ for ‘suburban section interoperable’ with ‘Indian Railways National ATP system’
  • Automation of ‘Track Inspection Activities’;
  • Design of ‘superior Elastomeric Pad (EM Pad)’ for ‘Heavy Haul freight Wagons’;
  • Development of ‘online Condition Monitoring System’ for traction motors of ‘3-phase Electric Locomotives’;
  • ‘Light-weight wagon’ for ‘transporting commodities’ like Salt;
  • Development of ‘analytical tool’ by using ‘digital data’ for improving ‘passenger services’;
  • Track Cleaning Machine;
  • App for ‘post-training revision & self-service refresher courses’;

Use of ‘Remote Sensing, Geomatics and GIS (geographic information system)’ for ‘bridge inspection’

Expected Benefits

• This policy will bring ‘scale and efficiency in the field of ‘operation, maintenance, and infrastructure creation’ through ‘participation of a very large and untapped start-up ecosystem’;
• It also aims to ‘leverage innovative technologies developed by ‘Indian Start-ups /MSMEs /Innovators /Entrepreneurs’ to improve the ‘operational efficiency and Safety’ of Indian Railways;

It will Promote ‘Innovation Culture’ in the country for ‘co-creation and co-innovation in the Railway sector.