Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Thursday responded to the discussion on the grant demands of the Railway Ministry in the Lok Sabha. During the discussion, the Railway Minister responded to the allegations made by the opposition, listed the achievements of the Modi government and also gave information about the steps being taken by the ministry regarding rail safety. He said that railways are a common man’s vehicle. Even a poor person can travel long distances by rail in less money. With this feeling, many steps were taken in 10 years so that the poor and middle class people can get facilities.
On the allegation of reduction in the number of general coaches, the Railway Minister said that almost two-thirds of the coaches in the Railways were a combination of general and sleeper coaches and one-third were AC coaches, which is still there. He said that we have taken up the work of making 2500 extra general coaches, which will make mail-express trains have a combination of four general coaches. The work of making 10,000 general coaches has also been taken up, so that there will be no problem of general coaches anywhere in the future. While talking about Amrit Bharat train, the Railway Minister said that two Amrit Bharat trains have been inaugurated. The first train is running from Malda to Bengaluru and the second from Darbhanga to Delhi, in which half are sleeper and half are general coaches. The PM has decided to produce 50 more Amrit Bharat trains.
While listing the features of Amrit Bharat train, he said that the old design coaches, LHB coaches, jerk as soon as the train starts. New technology has been used in Amrit Bharat train. There are no jerks in it. The Railway Minister said that based on the experience of five months of operation of this train, many improvements have been made which will be further improved in the next 50 Amrit Bharat trains. The PM’s entire focus is on the poor and middle class and the railways is working keeping that in mind. Referring to the demand for Vande Bharat train from many opposition members, he said that this is a matter of happiness for us.
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The Railway Minister said that when the matter of world class semi high speed train came up, it should be on record that the PM clearly said that the old method of going abroad and transferring technology was rejected. The PM said that our engineers have so much capability that we will design it ourselves and this train which is providing services to more than 100 cities is an example of this confidence. He said that yesterday a member talked about discrimination. The PM clearly said that Vande Bharat has to be rolled out everywhere, from East to West and North to South. The Railway Minister said that every state has been taken care of in the operation of Vande Bharat.
Vande Metro will run to short distance cities
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that Vande Metro has been designed to run a regional train for short distances to big cities. He said in the Lok Sabha that the first train has already left the Kapurthala factory. Its testing is going on and it will be launched very soon. He also enumerated the features of this train and said that it has been equipped with the best features from around the world. Vande Sleeper has been designed for long distances. The Railway Minister said that the testing of the first Vande Sleeper train is going on. The combination of these four trains, Vande Bharat, Amrit Bharat, Vande Metro and Vande Sleeper, will give a new form to the travel of the common man. Last year, seven hundred crore people traveled by train, this will prove to be a boon for all of them.
Steps enumerated for passenger safety
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav also enumerated the steps taken towards passenger safety in Parliament. He said that unmanned crossings were the biggest problem, it has been resolved. The entire control of stations is done through electronic interlocking. It was installed in the major countries of the world in the 1980-90s. Work was going on at a slow pace here. The Railway Minister told the old and current figures regarding this and said that now work is going on to cover almost all the stations of the country. A new system has been introduced to improve the locomotives – Kavach System.
He said that it was said in the House yesterday that when the Chief Minister of West Bengal was the Railway Minister, automatic devices were installed in trains. All the major operators of the world installed the ATP system in their trains in 1980-90. The Railway Minister said that the speed of trains is increasing. If the train moves at high speed, the time to see the signal is less. He said that even during the 58-year tenure of the Congress, this technology could not be installed till 2014.
The Railway Minister said that PM Modi resolved to develop ATP in 2015 and the trials of Kavach started in 2016. In 2019, it received the certificate of Seal Four which is very tough. He said that despite Covid, its extended trials were conducted in 2020-21, three manufacturers were identified and a project of three thousand kilometers was rolled out in 2023 and today we are in a position where two more manufacturers are going to join. The Railway Minister said that we have trained more than eight thousand engineers, 6 universities have included it in their curriculum.
9000 km of armor is in tender process
The Railway Minister said that now we have tenders in process for 9000 km and in a few months it will start being installed on five thousand locomotives. We have a rail network of about 70 thousand km. Countries with half of that network took almost 20 years to install ATP. He said that I would like to assure you that we will leave no stone unturned in installing Kavach. Safety is being discussed. Track failure used to be a big issue. The Railway Minister counted the figures of the UPA and NDA governments and said that a phase array ultrasound machine has been developed so that if there is any problem in the track, it can be understood well. Fish plates have been replaced at many places.
He said that in 2013-14, there were about 2500 rail fractures which have reduced to 383 by 2023-24. There should be an effort to take it towards zero. 310 LHB coaches were made in the UPA government, 37 thousand have been made in the Modi government. We should not stop at this either. The Railway Minister said that all the coaches with 1950 technology have to be replaced. According to today’s standards, the work of designing in a totally new way has also been taken up. He said that during the UPA tenure, there were an average of 171 accidents every year, which has reduced by about 68 percent. Opposition members started creating a ruckus over this.
Advised the opposition to look within itself
The Railway Minister, enraged at the uproar of the opposition, said that those who are asking these questions today, should explain why they could not get a single ATP installed in their 58 years of tenure. Look inside your own self. He said that in this very House when Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister, she used to tell the number of her accidents, how much they used to clap when the index went from point two four to point one nine. Today, when the index goes from point one nine to point zero three, they talk like this in the House. Will the country run like this? To run the country, everyone will have to cooperate to improve the railways. Accusing the Congress of politics of lies, the Railway Minister said that two crore passengers travel by train daily. Do they want to fill this fear in their minds?
He said that the railway family consists of 12 lakh employees. Pat the table for them. Congress is a shop of lies and this shop of lies will not work. The Railway Minister alleged that sometimes they insult the army, sometimes they work to insult the railways. This kind of politics will not work. The railways have that strength, they have engineers who can face the biggest challenges. He also presented the data of appointments in the railways during the UPA and NDA governments in the House and said that we have also released a calendar for recruitment in the railways in 2024.
During the time of those who are busy making reels, facilities were zero
The Railway Minister said that we have changed the working system to focus on maintenance. By planning every week through the rolling back system, the work has increased so much in 26 weeks that we will benefit from it for decades. He said that the issue of loco pilots was raised by many honourable members. They are very important members of the railway family. We have taken steps for them. The Railway Minister said that we are not just people who make reels, we are working people. The entire tenure of a loco pilot is decided according to the rules made in 2005. Running time and rest time are decided according to that. In 2016, we have changed these rules and provided more facilities. All running rooms have been air conditioned. Loco cabs have also been air conditioned. Those who are busy making reels today by showing sympathy with loco pilots, during their time the facilities were zero.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)