The Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) is a massive infrastructure project spanning thousands of kilometres from Istanbul, Turkey, to Tokyo, Japan. Its goal is to facilitate trade, transport, and communication among countries in the region. To optimize the potential of this project, TAR members recently came together to finalize a regional strategy for accelerating rail digital transformation. This strategy is expected to have a profound impact on how TAR is managed and maintained, as well as on the region’s overall economic growth, connectivity, and sustainability. This article explores what digital transformation means for TAR, how the strategy was developed, and the potential benefits and challenges that lie ahead in its implementation.
A conference on accelerating rail digital transformation for Asia and the Pacific region was held on 5th and 6th April 2023 in New Delhi, India. The conference received organization from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in cooperation with the Ministry of Railways. The event saw representatives from the Ministries of Transport/Railways of 18 countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Georgia, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nepal, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The conference gathered some renowned organizations such as the Asian Institute of Transport Development, Birmingham Center for Railway Research and Education, Organization for Cooperation Between Railways, International Union of Railways, and International Organization for International Carriage by Rail. While addressing the conference, Chairman of Indian Railways Anil Kumar Lahoti appreciated ESCAP for organizing the conference for such a topical issue. He also added that Indian Railways is expanding its digital footprint in every aspect of rail transport and is fully prepared to share its expertise and experience with the member countries of the Trans-Asian railway network, especially those who are initiating their rail digitalization journey.
The trans-Asian railway network serves as a coordinated plan for developing a regional rail network that aims to support intra and inter-regional trade and transport. The 128,000 kilometers long rail network goes through 28 countries and was formalized through an Inter-governmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway network that came into effect in 2009. Head of the UN ESCAP office in New Delhi Mikiko Tanaka emphasized the need to utilize digitalization to further elevate the operational performance of rail and increase the freight and passenger transport by rail to aid countries in realizing sustainable development goals.
The conference discussed ways to accelerate rail digital transformation in Asia and the Pacific to boost the competitiveness of rail transport and attract more passengers and cargo to railway transportation. The participating countries deliberated on a regional strategy for accelerating the rail digital transformation in Asia and the Pacific through a presentation given by Sandeep Raj Jain, an official from the Transport Division of the UN ESCAP head office in Thailand. The proposed strategy intends to provide coherence and momentum to existing initiatives on rail digitalization, foster an ecosystem to harness the full potential of rail digitalization, advance operational performance, reliability, capacity, security, and safety of rail assets. Furthermore, it aims to enhance customer experience, create synergies through partnerships, and ensure high-level political support on rail digitalization.
The strategy also identifies eight priority areas and five cross-cutting issues to deepen the regional cooperation on accelerating rail digital transformation. Among the five cross-cutting issues, the strategy suggests establishing a regional capacity-building program on rail digital transformation with a pool of experts to enhance the digital skills of railway officials. Another suggestion is to create a rail digital and innovation fund to finance rail digital projects as a multi-donor trust fund to support landlocked and least developing countries to accelerate digital technologies. Moreover, the proposal advocates for developing a regional framework for rail cybersecurity to strengthen rail cybersecurity capabilities for sharing information, building capacity, and learning from experience. The strategy also aims to enhance the engagement of the private sector by promoting legal and regulatory frameworks that attract private investments & expertise in rail digital applications.
The proposed strategy now includes implementation arrangements for formulating national and sub-national strategies on rail digitalization and measuring progress via the development of a rail digital and innovation index complemented by three levels of maturity for rail digitalization. Conference participants welcomed the draft strategy for accelerating rail digital transformation presented by the ESCAP secretariat and highlighted that its adoption and subsequent implementation could fast-track rail digitalization, especially for landlocked and less developing countries.
Jaya Varma Sinha, Member Operations and Business Development of Railway Board, supported the proposed draft of the regional strategy in her address on the second day of the Conference. She also exhibited Indian Railways’ willingness to support regional rail digitalization initiatives by utilizing the ESCAP platform. The conference concluded with a recommendation to adopt the regional strategy for accelerating rail digital transformation by members of the Trans-Asian Railway network.
