News Railways gear up for basic improvements

BANHAMMER · Sep 8, 2014

The Railway Ministry under D V Sadanada Gowda has started work on 80 per cent of the budgetary pronouncements and hopes to initiate work on the remaining within a month.

Most of the work in progress outlined by the Minister at a news conference in New Delhi on Monday related to improving the basics such as cleanliness, safety, security and punctuality. The Minister revealed that a meeting once every fortnight with the railway top brass is devoted to monitoring the progress made in implementing budgetary promises.

Work relating to restructuring of the Railway Board or the proposal about merging the railway budget with the Union Budget is being handled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Mr. Gowda said in response to a question from The Hindu.

Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Sinha said one set of studies for the proposed Ahmadabad-Mumbai bullet train had been completed and the submission of a business potential study was on the cards. “It has been discussed, studies are being conducted,’’ he said.

As for inviting the private sector in a bigger way, Mr. Gowda said a model concession agreement should be ready in a month to target Rs. 6,000 crores during the year mainly in projects relating to first and last mile connectivity. The railway has received a poor response of four per cent against its previous budgetary expectations in this respect.

A ‘short duration’ committee on resource mobilisation will submit a report which will fine-tune the options before the railways.

There was some consternation at the press conference when the floor opened for questions and answers after some newspersons wanted to query the Minister on rape charges against his son. While official wanted questions to be confined to the working of the Ministry, Mr. Gowda overruled them.

“I will answer,’’ said Mr. Gowda and proceeded to point out that he was not in a position to say anything because the issue is under investigation. “The Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating the matter. The law will take its own course. Saying anything more will be an interference,’’ he observed.

With a railway accident marking the start of his tenure at the Railway Ministry, Mr. Gowda told newspersons that the Government had fixed safety as the first priority. He then listed the work being done on several fronts to make rail travel safe and pleasant.
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Gravy and sauce: Railway ministry gears up to improve basics, says Gowda - The Hindu

JD666 · Sep 8, 2014

Good going. If they could bring the high speed Trains and establish key routes (DEL-BOM, BLR, Pune, Chennai and if Didi allows it, to Calcutta ) would be awesome.

I envision doing DEL-BOM by train in about 4 hours watching TV and surfing the net on the way.

BANHAMMER · Sep 9, 2014

That wont happen before 2020

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