India has signed memorandums of understanding with the governments of Spain and Switzerland aimed at increasing the number of foreign companies working on its rail modernisation projects.

Indian Railways signed an agreement with the Swiss department of transport that envisages Swiss companies supplying machinery, materials and tunnelling consultancy across its passenger and freight services.

The two governments also announced that they would collaborate in technology-sharing, track maintenance, management and construction.

The agreements hope to improve the efficiency, safety and service quality of the network, and they build on deals struck in 2019, 2017 and 2022.

After the recent visit of Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s prime minister, to India, the two government’s issued a press release that said an agreement in principle had been signed to promote cooperation on rail transport, roads and ports.