Deutsche Bahn to forge collaborative setup with Indian Railways

Deutsche Bahn to forge collaborative setup with Indian Railways One of the world’s biggest railways and the world’s biggest logistics group are planning to use their collective power to make freight transportation in India more efficient.
   Deutsche Bahn AG and the Indian Railways on Friday agreed to jointly develop freight transportation centers in India, with officials from the German railway in New Delhi to cement the ties.
   “With this commitment, we will meet the interests of our international customers who are already established on the economically prospering Indian Subcontinent or who are about to make major investments,” said Hartmut Mehdorn, DB AG chief executive officer, in a meeting with K.C. Jena, chairman of the Indian Railways board. 'In collaboration with Indian Railways, we will contribute our know-how as one of the world's leading logistics service providers.'
   Under the agreement, the two companies will prepare a feasibility study for the development of freight transportation centers in India’s major population centers. Based on this study, the two partners will then decide what other steps they will take, DB said in a statement.
   'Moving goods efficiently in the major population centers is indispensable for India,” said Norbert Bensel, DB AG board member in charge of transportation and logistics. “To meet this goal, we will develop state-of-the-art freight centers with IR that interconnect transportation by rail, land, air and sea, and provide additional logistics services for those customers who operate on a global scale. This is a field in which DB has both the experience and the expertise, and we will be building on that.'
   DB’s meeting also included a sit-down with the influential Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, with logistics issues top of the discussions. ' Eric Johnson