Railways will be an engine of growth in few years: Prabhu

(Photo by Imteyaz Ahmed)

Satish Sharma
Motihari :  Railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday said that the that railway has been in deep trouble for
the last two decades  and the Narendra Modi government was making efforts to take the public transporter out of the  ICU and stabilise it.  He said several measures have been taken  by the government to make railway robust.

” We are trying to ensure that the railway will be an engine of growth in the next few years . To provide better facilities to passengers in country, the railway is improving punctuality and raising speed of trains by adopting new technology. The pace of commissioning  of broadguage lines  has increased against an average  of 4.3 km per day to 7.8 km
perday . We will increase this pace to about 19 km per day by 2018-19. We constructed 1,024 ROBs  in 2014-15  against
762  constructed in 2009-14  by UPA government. We closed 1,253  unmanned gates in 2014-16 . Fifteen road overbridges (ROBs) have been sanctioned in East Champaran  in the current butge but  the state government does not appear to be interested in them,” Prabhu said while flagging off  a new weekly  Bapudham Motihari – Anand  Bihar express train on Friday. This train has been introduced to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s  Champaran satyagrah centenary year.

Talking about Bihar, the railway minister said that Bihar is an important state and Modi government wants to develop it  through rail. Railway has allocated Rs 16, 000 crore for completion  of various projects in Bihar in its budget. What came as  music to the ears of Champaran people was the announcement by Prabhu to introduce a super fast express train from Motihari to Delhi soon.

He also said that the railway ministry is considering a proposal to construct a washing pit at Motihari, doubling of  line between Muzaffarpur-Valmikinagar section, introduce a train from Valmikinagar to Pataliputra. Railway  is going to improve infrastructure in various states at a cost of Rs 10,736  which which will include doubling of rail lines. Prabhu, at a meeting organized at MS College, Motihari,  ground near station here  inaugurated newly constructed ROBs at Motihari,  Begusarai and and Pipraha and newly converted broadgauge line on Banmankhi- Purnia section  through  video conferencing. Rajiv Mishra, incharge  General manager, East Central railway (ECR) and other top rail officers  were present  on the occasion.

Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh while addressing the meeting said the country is fast developing in Narendra Modi regime and railway has done tremendous work during last two years. The passengers know that they will get proper services even on running trains. The picture of stations and trains arefast changing and the mindset of rail officers have also changed. Rama Devi, MP,  demanded linking of  Motihari to Sitamarhi via Sheohar which was promised by Rail minister. The railway minister addressed four meetings at Motihari on Friday. He addressed a meeting on two years of vikas yatra of Modi government at Ramayan field.