Rail infra push

IN a major initiative aimed at improving as well as augmenting railway infrastructure across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of more than 2,000 projects worth about Rs 41,000 crore. As many as 553 railway stations will be redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme at a cost of over Rs 19,000 crore. The government’s ‘Viksit Bharat Viksit Railway’ programme is aimed at upgrading the rail network and railway stations for the comfort and convenience of passengers.

In his speech, the PM said: ‘Whatever India does today, it does it at an unprecedented speed and scale.’ No less important than speed and scale is safety, especially since several train mishaps took place last year. More than 290 passengers were killed when the Coromandel Express and two other trains collided in Odisha’s Balasore district in June. A collision between two passenger trains on the Howrah-Chennai line in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh had claimed 14 lives in October. Earlier this week, a freight train ran driverless for about 70 km from Kathua (Jammu) to Dasuya (Punjab) on the Jammu Tawi-Pathankot section before it was finally stopped by placing sandbags and wood blocks on the track. A preliminary probe has indicated lapses on the part of the driver and the station master.

Passengers undoubtedly want faster trains with better amenities, besides spick-and-span railway stations, but there should be no compromise on safety. The Railways must learn lessons from various mishaps and do course correction. The much-touted Kavach, an indigenously developed automatic train protection system, must be deployed in a time-bound manner on all routes across the country. The government had claimed in December last year that various measures undertaken over the years had led to a significant improvement in the safety performance of the Railways. However, a lot needs to be done to make train journeys safer. 

#Narendra Modi