The Railways will provide land for a multispecialty hospital which the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, plans to build. Once Health Ministry permission is obtained, the hospital-project at Kharagpur in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district will be taken up by the "three partners," Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday.
She was speaking at the flagging off of three new trains here.
"The Railways has already signed several MoUs with the Health Ministry for setting up health facilities on land available with the Railways. I will recommend this project also to the Health Ministry," she said.
IIT Kharagpur is building it in association with the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Meanwhile, an MoU was signed between the Railways and the IIT Kharagpur for setting up a railway research centre. Students of the IIT will conduct research for development and modernisation of the Railways.
The pact was signed between IIT Kharagpur Director Damodar Acharya and Railway Board Member Staff A.K. Goyel in the presence of Ms. Banerjee, who called it a "historical step."
Mr. Acharya said: "This research centre will cater for the future technological requirements of trains, mainly the need for coaches with heavy passenger capacity."
It would conduct research on heavy-haul technology, vehicle dynamics, development of new materials for the Railways, security and safety and use of remote sensing for track monitoring.
