Goyal holds high level meeting on Railways Safety in Mumbai

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : A high-level meeting on Railways Safety was held in Mumbai on September 30, 2017, under the chairmanship of Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to comprehensively review Safety measures in Mumbai Suburban Railways as well as entire Indian Railways. The meeting was held at Western Railways (WR) headquarters at Churchgate.

Various major decisions were taken at the meeting wherein passenger safety has been accorded the highest priority. Accordingly, several important decisions were taken to empower Railway officers to take strong measures to improve passenger safety and security. Foot Over Bridges (FOBs), platforms and pathways on platform end to be treated as Safety items having highest priority with no restriction of budget. Earlier, only the first FOB at a station was considered as essential and subsequent as passenger amenity.

For next 18 months, General Managers of Railway zones have been delegated powers without limit for Safety related issues. They shall intimate Financial Commissioner (FC) within a week of sanction for provision, and FC shall confirm the same within 15 days. In case of disagreement, the matter shall be put up to the Railway Board for final decision within the same 15 days, according to a PIB release.

Additional Escalators sanctioned at stations of the Mumbai Suburban system having high footfall with the details to be finalised within 15 days. Similar exercise will be carried out for all high use stations all over India. Two hundred  officers to be relocated from Headquarters in field to strengthen ground operations and project implementation. Brilliant and enthusiastic Station Directors are being posted at 75 stations all over India to bring dynamism in operations, according to the PIB release. Within the next 15 months, CCTV cameras will be installed in all suburban trains in Mumbai with monitoring mechanism. This shall be done in parallel across India as well. Financial & administrative powers will be delegated to field units by October 2017 to reduce red tape and push development & delivery.

Chairman, Railway Board, Ashwani Lohani, and all railway board members were present at the meeting along with A K Gupta, General Manager, Western Railways, and D  K Sharma,General Manager of Central Railways and security officials of the state government.