Officials involved in the bullet train initiative in India will take a crash course in Japanese language and culture to be able to better interact with Japanese colleagues, according to an internal communication of the National High Speed Rail Corporation on Friday.
“These classes will be conducted both online and offline. It will be conducted thrice a week and will involve employees of all grades,” an official said, requesting anonymity.
“A total of around 30 employees will be nominated by their respective head of departments for the language course. These nominations will be finalized by Tuesday.”
The induction course began briefly before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019.
The state-owned firm building the bullet trains and railway tracks employs around 700 people, out of which 150 are permanent staff.
The foundation stone for the Mumbai to Ahmedabad bullet train project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinto Abe in 2017.
”Knowledge of the Japanese language is needed because one has to learn from the Japanese. It is difficult to learn if one is not able to communicate,” said the official. India has enlisted the help of Japanese technology, engineers and finance to assist in the construction of its first line, a 508km link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
The corporation, an arm of the Indian Railways tasked with building and managing bullet train projects, has also submitted detailed reports for a Delhi to Varanasi link last year, and a Mumbai to Nagpur link in February.
{{/usCountry}}The corporation, an arm of the Indian Railways tasked with building and managing bullet train projects, has also submitted detailed reports for a Delhi to Varanasi link last year, and a Mumbai to Nagpur link in February.
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