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This time, it is not the empire that is striking back. The British may have laid the tracks in 19th century colonial India, but in 2004, the...

This time, it is not the empire that is striking back. The British may have laid the tracks in 19th century colonial India, but in 2004, they need the help of Indian railway engineers to wire up signals back home.

The outsourcing of Indian expertise comes in the wake of acute shortage of trained signal personnel in the Network Rail. An SOS was sent to the Indian Railways, as only they have signal engineers, seeking help in upgrading the London-Glasgow main trunk route on the West Coast Main Line. 8216;8216;A signalling system is critical to safety of a rail network. In case of the British Network Rail, the upgradation to a higher speed required designing, construction and maintenance of the entire signalling system,8217;8217; Member Electrical, Railway Board, S.C. Gupta told The Indian Express.

The work also required replacement of some outdated signal boxes. 8216;8216;Network Rail wanted to instal Train Protection And Warning System to prevent accidents due to signal crossing. Our engineers there are also helping out in the designing,8217;8217; an official said.

At present, there are over 60 signal engineers working on Network Rail. Among them, about 30 are still working with Indian Railways 8212; on deputation with Network Rail 8212; and the remaining are either retired or those, who have taken VRS to work there.

8216;8216;There is demand for more engineers. But we cannot spare any more. With the work on replacement of our own signalling system in full swing, we need all the people here,8217;8217; the official said.

So, it has been a bonanza for retired engineers. 8216;8216;In UK, the retirement age is 65. So, after they retire from the railways at 58, they go to London to work. An added benefit for them is that if they work there for five years, they are entitled to pension,8217;8217; he added.

8216;8216;British contractors W. Atkins and Jarvis Facilities are in touch with our PSUs IRCON and RITES, who in turn select and send the engineers. Some engineers, who are involved in designing of the project are based in Sharjah. Those who are working on the actual implementation are in UK,8217;8217; he added.

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The outsourcing started in 1999 after British Rail was privatised and people were laid off. 8216;8216;Despite the system coming under the government wing again last year, as Network Rail, they realised that it was more economical to get people from India than train them there,8217;8217; said Gupta.