Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav
Ashwini Vaishnav on Railway Cover, Accusing the Congress and other oppositiona parties of running a ‘lie shop’ regarding the security of railways, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Thursday said that no stone will be left unturned to install the modern version of the ‘Kavach’ system of security in the railways on every kilometer of the country’s rail network. Responding to the discussion in the Lok Sabha in the last two days on the demands for grants under the control of the Ministry of Railways, Vaishnav also said that keeping in mind the increasing demand for general coaches in trains, the government has considered the production of about two and a half thousand general coaches, a decision has been taken to build 50 more Amrit trains and Vande Metro will be run between two cities of short distance.
In 58 years of Congress rule, not even 1 km of ATP was laid
He said that for the safety of trains, Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system was installed in most countries of the world in 1970s and 1980s, but unfortunately, during the 58 years of Congress rule and before 2014, not even a single kilometer of Indian railway network could be fitted with this system. He said, we believe that during the Congress rule, many experiments were done in railways, but the work was not done with the sensitivity or the spirit with which it should have been done.
I don’t want to do politics here
When some members from West Bengal mentioned the anti-collision device system implemented when Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister, Vaishnav said that this system was installed on about 1500 km of railway track in the country in 2006. He said, unfortunately it did not have any safety certificate and it was removed in 2012. The method of working, the seriousness that should have been there in the railways, was not there then, but it is there today. Some members of the opposition were seen objecting to this. The Railway Minister said, I do not want to do politics here, I want to put the facts clearly in front of everyone. He said that after the formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2014, the ‘Kavach’ system was considered and in 2016 it was decided to implement it. Vaishnav said that in 2019 the highest level certificate was obtained for Kavach, which is a difficult process to obtain.
He said, despite COVID, further tests were conducted in 2020 and 2021 and in 2022, Kavach was implemented in the project of 3000 km rail network and a lot was learned during this time. Keeping all things in mind, version 4.0 of Kavach has been approved on 17 July 2024. Vaishnav said, we have three manufacturers of this technology, two new manufacturers are going to join, more than 8000 engineers and personnel have been trained in it and it has been included in the curriculum of six universities. He said that after so much hard work, the tender process is going on for 9000 km of railway line.
- The number of people who lost their lives in Wayanad landslide increased
- Youtuber was making a reel on the railway track, Railway Police arrested him
- ‘I felt like leaving the hospital and running away…’, this was the condition of the doctor who had done hundreds of post-mortems after seeing the condition of the bodies in Wayanad
- Infosys accused of tax evasion of Rs 32400 crore, company gave clarification… stock fell
- Israel has destroyed its two biggest enemies in 24 hours, war may break out!
We will work day and night to complete the armor work
Vaishnav said that India has a railway network of about 70 thousand kilometers. He said that countries with half the size of this network took about 20 years to implement the ATP system. I would like to assure that no stone will be left unturned in implementing Kavach. We will work day and night and with all our might to implement it on the entire network and on every kilometer of railway track. After the reply of the Railway Minister amid the uproar of the opposition members, the House approved the demands for grants under the control of the Railway Ministry. The Railway Minister said that the Modi government seriously believes that the railway is the mode of transport for the ordinary poor people and the middle class and keeping this in mind, many steps have been taken in the last 10 years.
Plan to produce 2500 general coaches
Vaishnav said that the demand for general coaches is increasing in the country and keeping that in mind, there is a plan to produce about 2500 general coaches. He said that now there will be no shortage of general coaches in the country. Referring to the Amrit Bharat train, the Railway Minister said that Prime Minister Modi envisioned a train that has world-class facilities, but the fare is minimal. He said that after successful testing in January, two new Amrit Bharat trains were inaugurated in the country from Ayodhya station which are running between Malda to Bengaluru and Darbhanga to Delhi. Vaishnav said that both have many times better facilities than all the previous trains and both are becoming very popular, in view of which the government has decided to produce 50 more Amrit Bharat trains.
Told about the importance of Amrit Bharat train
He said, politically, outside the House, the views of Congress and opposition parties come that Amrit Bharat Train is not needed. But during the discussion in the House, many members of the opposition have accepted this ambitious innovation of Prime Minister Modi and the power of self-reliant India. Thanks for this. Vaishnav, while accusing discrimination in the operation of trains, said that Vande Bharat train is being operated in every state and no discrimination of any kind has been done. He announced in the House that it has been decided to run Vande Metro on the lines of regional trains between short distance cities, between which the distance is 150 and 200 kilometers, which has been designed and testing is going on.
Vaishnav said that Vande Metro will be inaugurated soon and it will prove to be a boon for passengers with many features. Claiming that safety is being given priority in railways, Vaishnav said that there were about 2000 unmanned railway crossings in the country in 2019, which have been completely eliminated by installing gates, underpasses or ROBs. He said that since 2014, 2964 railway stations in the country have been controlled through electronic interlocking and the work of connecting the operations of different manufacturers has been done. The Railway Minister compared the work done in the railways during the 10 years of the Congress-led UPA government and the last 10 years of the Modi government and enumerated many achievements of the NDA government.
43 thousand tracks to be renewed in 10 years
He said that during the 10-year tenure of UPA, about 32 thousand kilometers of tracks were renewed, while in 10 years of NDA, 43 thousand tracks have been renewed. Vaishnav said that the government will replace all the railway coaches with 1950 technology and keeping in mind today’s technology, the work of designing completely new coaches has been taken up, on which engineers of our own country are working. The Railway Minister claimed that during the 10-year tenure of UPA, there were about 171 railway accidents every year on an average, which has reduced by about 68 percent under the rule of Modi government. He said, but we should not be satisfied with this. We all should together make efforts with full dedication on every aspect of safety and Modi government is committed to this.
Opposition’s troll army on social media
In reference to some allegations by members of Congress and other opposition parties, Railway Minister Vaishnav said, the opposition has raised many issues through its troll army on social media through which they want to create fear in the minds of two crore passengers who travel by trains daily. The shop of lies that Congress is trying to set up will not work. This politics will not work. He said that 12 lakh railway workers work hard day and night, we should encourage them by clapping. After this, Vaishnav thumped the table vigorously for a few seconds and members of the ruling party also thumped the tables with him. He said that the railways has such strength that our engineers and workers are ready to face any problem and the biggest challenge. (Bhasha input)