Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Inspired by PM Narendra Modi’s goal of making Railways the engine that fuels our vikasyatra (development journey) towards New India, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on September 28, 2017, announced various decisions taken by Railway Ministry for transformation of Indian Railways at Rail Bhavan. Minister of State for Communication (I/c) & Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, Chairman, Railway Board, Ashwani Lohani, and all board members were also present on the occasion.
Goyal said, “Railways is committed to ensure high standards of safety, speed and service for Indian consumers and also ensuring contribution to national development. In the past one month, Indian Railways has taken significant transformative steps to ensure this goal.”
Overriding and perceptible priority to safety, priority to track renewal over new lines/gauge conversion/ in allotment of rails, stress on field inspections by officers, eliminating remaining 5,000 unmanned level crossings in a time-bound manner, shift to LHB coaches from ICF coaches by next year, provision of CCTV cameras in coaches and stations for enhanced security especially benefitting women and senior citizens, revamping of the existing signalling system – use of TPWS (Train Protection & Warning System) and MTRC (Mobile Train Radio Communication) were among the important decisions announced on September 28, according to a PIB release.
All RPF staff and TTEs to be in proper uniform while on duty to bring in transparency. RPF staff will not check tickets, which is the function of TTEs. They shall, however, assist ticket checking squads.All stations and trains to have high speed wi-fi connectivity.It is proposed to increase speed of around 700 trains with effect from November 1, 2017, while 48 trains are being converted from Mail express to the Superfast category, according to the PIB release.