A team from UNSW Sydney took home two major honours at the Build India Infra Awards 2025 for their work in optimising rail infrastructure and improving driver safety in India.
A team from UNSW Sydney took home two major honours at the Build India Infra Awards 2025 for their work in optimising rail infrastructure and improving driver safety in India.
Professor Vinayak Dixit from UNSW Engineering accepted the awards from Honourable Union Cabinet Minister, Mr Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Ministry of Civil Aviation, at the award function in New Delhi, India, this week. The awards were supported and selected by India’s Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
“It is an inspiring and proud moment to receive this award on behalf of UNSW in recognition of our work with two important Government Ministries,” Prof. Dixit said. “These awards are a testament and celebration of years of innovation and development from PhD students, research engineers, and colleagues.”
Prof. Dixit’s team took out the Railways – Innovation award for building the world’s largest model for economic assessment of railway infrastructure. The model captures the direct and indirect impacts of road and rail projects on GDP, household welfare, and equity by integrating freight transport as a cost of business.
“The Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model was used to analyse the impact of India’s Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and major expressway projects like the Amritsar–Jamnagar and Delhi–Katra expressways, demonstrating its value in guiding infrastructure investment decisions and policy development,” Prof. Dixit said. “By leveraging real-world data from Indian Railways, freight corridors, and national transport networks, the model will enable policymakers to make data-driven investment decisions and prioritise projects with the highest financial returns and equitable benefits.”
Prof. Dixit’s team was also recognised in the Special Jury Awards – Innovative Technology for developing low-cost driver training simulators to help prevent road fatalities in India. The driving simulator, which is designed to function as an instructor, teaches learner drivers how to operate a motor vehicle in a risk-free environment through custom scenarios and courses built to mirror different scenarios.
“The intent is that new inexperienced drivers can build confidence in motor vehicle controls such as steering, speed control and manual gear shifting in a simulated, virtual space before operating an actual vehicle,” Prof. Dixit said. “Furthermore, these simulators will help evaluate road design to ensure that they are driver-friendly and compliant with human factor principles, significantly reducing accidents while reducing the load on driver testing and evaluation.”
The Build India Infra Awards 2025 is an initiative that spotlights outstanding infrastructure projects and initiatives across India. The Awards celebrate the significant contributions made towards India’s infrastructure development and help foster a culture of excellence, innovation, and sustainability in the sector.