The Science Express is a mobile scientific exhibition for children mounted on a train which travels across India. The project was launched on 30 October 2007 at the Safdarjung railway station,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

by the Department of Science and Technology (DST),

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. Although open to all, the project primarily targets students and teachers. , the train has had nine phases and has showcased exhibitions on three themes. The first four phases from 2007 to 2011 were called "Science Express" and were focused on micro and macro cosmos. The next three phases from 2012 to 2014 remodelled the exhibits as "Biodiversity Special". The eighth and ninth phase from 2015 to 2017 was redesigned to focus on "Climate Change".

Collaborations and exhibits

The project was initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in 2007 primarily focusing for students and teachers and has no entry fee. DST focused the first four phases on micro and macro cosmos and highlighted the developing newer researches being done in the fields of science and technology worldwide. It covered topics like the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

, building blocks of life,

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditio ...

s, and

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

. The second theme focused on biodiversity within India and was modeled jointly by DST and

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Government of India, Indian government Ministry (government department), ministry. The ministry Portfolio (government), portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union ...

(MoEFCC). It covered the diverse aspects of life in Trans-Himalayan and the Himalayan regions, the

Gangetic Plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the Northern Plain or North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain spanning across the northern and north-eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. It encompasses northern and eastern India, eastern Pakist ...

s, the North Easterns hilly areas, the deserts, the coastal Western Ghats, the

Deccan Plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

, and various islands. A "Kids Zone" was also introduced for fun activities like puzzles and games related to science. The third theme was designed for Climate Change and was developed as collaborative work between DST, MoEFCC, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Railways, Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC) and

Wildlife Institute of India The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an autonomous natural resource service institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change, Government of Indi ...

(WII). The ninth phase of the exhibition had 16 coaches of which eight were developed by MoEFCC. Solar panels have been installed on rooftop of some coaches and facilities to train teachers is also available. A team from the VASCSC, which manages the entire exhibit, guides students through the exhibition and also engages into activities on the railway platform. Dilip Sarkar, executive director of VASCSC said that the exhibit aims to "transform the vehicle into a people's movement and motivate them to take individual actions to fight

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

". The exhibition while in its eighth phase had travelled for and halted at 455 stations together. In over 1,600 days for which it has been exhibited it has been visited by nearly 1.5

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

(15 million) people with students from over 33,800 schools. The exhibition thus held record of being the largest, the longest running and the most visited exhibition as noted in the ''

Limca Book of Records The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorised into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, adve ...

''.

Statistics

Gallery

File:Science express.jpg, Science Express at Rayagada,

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

in 2011 File:Science express bio diversity special 4.jpg, Students queue outside the train in 2014 File:SCIENCE EXPRESS CROWD.JPG, Interior of the exhibition in 2011 File:Science express bio diversity special 1.jpg, Exhibits of the Biodiversity Special in 2014 File:Science express bio diversity special 6.jpg, Activities conducted on the railway platform for the visitors

References

External links

Official website
{{Indian Railways 2007 establishments in Delhi Express trains in India Ministry of Science and Technology (India) Science education in India