INTERVIEW
Exclusive Interview with:
Dr. Amudhan Valavan Public Transport Expert and the winner of Transport Researcher of the Year 2020 Global Award
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r. Amudhan Valavan possess over 26 years of experience in Public Transport and Urban Mobility related fields since 1993. From 2016, he has worked as an Independent consultant and Adviser to leading Companies like Thriveni Earthmovers, Thriveni Sainik and also RTA, Dubai and KPTC, Kuwait etc. on several technical assistance and training projects in India & the Middle-East and managed a number of projects involving numerous experts and multi-disciplinary teams. Dr. Valavan finished his graduation in BITS, PILANI in 2004, further he was awarded a Doctorate in Management (h.c) in 2018 from Young Scientist University, USA. He has constantly been upgrading his knowledge with the latest trends and technologies in the field of transportation i.e MaaS, E-Mobility,Urban Transport Planning, Climate Change, Carbon Funding, IoT, Artificial Intelligence and Smart Technologies through leading International Institutions like Deft University of Technology, Netherlands, University of Copenhagen, Yonsei University, South Korea, École Des Ponts Paristech, France, INSEAD, IBM, World Bank and currently pursuing courses with Oxford University, UK. His Professional Affiliations membership status is with ISM-USA, ITE-USA & SAE INDIA. He is also a fellowship Member and Chartered Engineer from Institution of Engineers (India). The course of his educational journey is an inspiration to many young aspirants who want to make a change in the transportation Industry.
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Congratulations on bagging the "Transport Researcher of the year" award at Rail Infra and Mobility Business Digital Awards 2020. Before we begin, please tell us a little bit about your professional journey in the transportation industry? My career started in the year 1993 when I joined as an Graduate Trainee in PT.Dr.JJTC Pvt Ltd (currently goes by the name “SETC, Tamilnadu Ltd,Chennai).There were other attractive courses for a Mechanical Engineer in those days, industries were booming opportunities were plenty, but my heart and mind were long set towards the field of transportation. Through constant hard work and sincere efforts, I benchmarked the levels of development in the Transport sector and reached a designation of Executive Director in TECHNO SOCIAL organization like TECHSACS. After my initial assignment with the maintenance division of State Express Transport Corporation (Tamilnadu) – Chennai, India, as Sr. Engineer, I have
Urban Transport Infrastructure // SEPTEMBER 2020
had an enriching experience (for almost 7 years) in operational services and maintenance aspect of transportation business of Kuwait Public Transport Co. – Safat, Kuwait, under the stewardship of Vice Chairman (Maintenance & Operation), in the role of Senior Researcher – Planning & Development. Post Kuwait experience, I moved back to my motherland, India, initially joining with M/s Parveen Automobiles (AB Group) Ltd as Head Service for one year and afterwards for almost 5 years with SRM Transports (India) Pvt. Ltd. – Chennai, India, I contributed my part as Head of Maintenance. Post my SRM services , I was a Senior Bus Expert to RTA, Dubai through M/s Bahwan Cybertek, in their “SMART BUS MAINTENANCE SYSTEM Project.” With many years of experience working under various government and private runners in the Transportation field, I decided to follow my dream of being an independent consultant and contribute to the field of transportation to make its shift to face the coming era. WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
