The first workshop presenting the interim results of this study was organised in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on 18 December, bringing together 50 participants representing the Korean members of UIC as well as other railway companies and manufacturers. This case study is used as a benchmark of the current power feeding supply available, especially in Japan, US, France, Germany, Korea and India.

The renovation of Indian Railways is interesting at many levels as it is included in the Indian infrastructure master plans with know-how and interests from international stakeholders. This is needed due to rapid annual rail traffic growth of 6.6%, facing saturation and low-speed on the 65,000 km of rail network. However, this study goes beyond the scope of India and overhead equipment as it is a complete comparison of the existing power supply types and characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, including investment costs, LCC, technical and economic performance. It recommends the most effective and cost-saving solutions for renovation, speed and capacity increase of all the power supply equipment. It also offers decision-makers an implementation plan for renovation work without interrupting train operation which is quite innovating and important for main lines. This study, part of the UIC Asia-Pacific Strategic Action Plan, can be a reference document for other railways in the world.

This workshop is part of a programme of two sub-regional meetings, in order to collect remaining questions and corrections before the final validation and presentation of the full study to be organised in the first half of 2015 in India.