Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani along with the Minister of Railways of India, Piyush Goyal, dedicated the first Railway University – National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI) to the nation. The inauguration ceremony took place at National Academy of Indian Railway (NAIR) campus in Vadodara on Saturday.
NRTI is a dream project of PM Narendra Modi. The University had already started working from September 5 – Teachers’ Day – with the first batch of 103 students from 20 different states. For now, two undergraduate courses have been started in the campus.
While talking to the press, Piyush Goyal told that NRTI has started functioning from NAIR. Indian Railways has received 100 acre land from Rupani government to set up a full-fledged campus with residential facilities. “We already have 100 acres land allotted to us by Gujarat Government. We are also exploring two or three other possible sites where we can set up the campus. The site of Sports University which Gujarat Government is setting up at Desar is also being explored,” Piyush Goyal added. Piyush Goyal further stated that in the next five years, Ministry will be investing Rs 421 crore in developing the railway university.
भारत की पहली राष्ट्रीय रेल एवं परिवहन संस्थान को आज गुजरात के मुख्यमंत्री @VijayRupaniBJP की उपस्थिति में देश को समर्पित करते हुए खुद को गर्वान्वित महसूस कर रहा हूँ, साथ ही राष्ट्र और रेल की प्रगति में संस्थान के योगदान पर छात्रों के साथ व्यक्तिगत चर्चा भी की pic.twitter.com/NVsBAPHcDN
— Piyush Goyal (मोदी का परिवार) (@PiyushGoyal) December 15, 2018
Piyush Goyal said that innovation and research has played a major role in revolutionizing the transportation sector. Urging the students to come forward to make a difference, he said, the aim is to develop a world class infrastructure to encourage cutting edge research in the railways. “Indian Railways also needs modernization and country’s first railway university is a step in that direction,” he added.
Replying to a query, Piyush Goyal said that the government is also setting up the High Speed Rail Training Institute (HSRTI), for the bullet train project. The bullet train project is also coming at NAIR, the Indian Railways is exploring an integrated campus approach, he added.
CM Rupani also added that Vadodara is emerging as a railway hub as setting up of NRTI and HSRTI will be helpful in providing human resources for Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
According to PTI report, the university had started two under-graduate courses – BSc in Transportation Technology and BBA in Transportation Management. The report further said that the university is aiming to start a Masters program from 2019-20 academic sessions in area such as Transportation and Systems Design, Transport Systems Engineering, Transport Policy, and Economics.
This is a major push toward the PM’s pet project, which he announced in the same year when he came to power. The project got approval on December 20, 2017 by the cabinet. The project was initiated by the Railway Ministry to enhance skill of human resources and provide specialization in specific sectors. Besides NAIR, there are only two Railway University in world; one in Russia and other in China.
The opening of a new railway university to train students in transportation will bring fresh ideas and energy. India is a vast country where transportation has very important role to play in the development of the country. A university dedicated to carry out specialized and inter-disciplinary research in transportation studies will give country edge in the field. The Indian Railways traverses whole country but we have not been able provide 21st century transportation facilities to people of the country except for a few cities like Delhi. Infrastructure is backbone of any economy and this new university will help the country to advance its infrastructure. According to university website it will have many schools including transport policy and law school.