NEW DELHI: In another major initiative aimed at making India the global hub of international railway managers, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the International Railway Strategic Management Institute (IRSMI) here.

Mr. Prasad said that as networks had been integrated and physical and non-physical barriers to trade overcome, there was a need to have an excellent reservoir of managerial talent in the Railways.

The success story of the Railways had attracted the attention of global management schools and institutes towards the possibility of studying in detail the functioning of the Railways, its strategies and managerial skills that made it a mammoth PSU with social obligations being run on commercial principles.

The IRSMI would become a premier institute for developing leaders in the railway industry and a temple of knowledge in the years to come, he said.

"Will give all help"

The Minister assured full commitment of the Government in making the institute a successful venture.

The institute, an initiative of the Railways and the International Union of Railways (UIC), would become fully operational by the year 2010 with independent infrastructure.

It would provide international training facilities in cooperation with top global business schools to railway professionals.

The institute, under the aegis of the UIC, would prepare international railway managers to meet the future challenges in rail operations, he said.

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for Railways Naranbhai J. Rathwa, Chairman of Railway Board J.P. Batra, vice-chairperson of UIC Anne Marie Idrac and chief executive of UIC (Paris) Luc Aladiere.

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