‘Safety, not just punctuality, should be priority’
MUMBAI: Safety, and not just punctuality, should be a priority, Union railway minister Piyush Goyal told railway officials on Friday, asking them to conduct necessary power blocks for better maintenance of tracks.
Power blocks are undertaken for inspection and maintenance of tracks and equipment by zonal railways in different sections. “Safety is the topmost priority in Indian Railways. The tracks require constant maintenance as they are old. When it comes to safety and punctuality, safety will be considered a priority,”
said Goyal at Mumbai Central station on Friday. “Planned blocks are carried out across the world. This concept is not that popular in India. In a few months, we will start implementing planned blocks on different sections to carry out maintenance works,” said a senior Railway Board official. Safety was also made a priority as the Indian Railways saw many accidents in the past couple of years in which many died. One such incident occurred in Uttar Pradesh in August 2016 where 150 people lost their lives.
Goyal was in the city for a divisional review of central and western railway and to inspect the progress of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-3A. Development and commercial exploitation of railway land across stations as means of increasing non-fare revenue was discussed. “The on-going projects including fifth and sixth line between Thane and Diva stations and MUTP-3A were discussed in the meeting. Sanctioning of the project by state government will be undertaken soon,” said an official present in the meeting.
On the audit of 1,10,000 bridges across Indian Railways after the collapse of the Andheri bridge in July, Goyal said, “Inspection of bridges all over India will be undertaken. The audit of 130 bridges has been completed.” Four thousand bridges will be audited by third party.
It was also decided that tenders for 47 AC local trains will be floated in November by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. A prototype local train will arrive in June 2019. AC locals will soon halt at Marine Lines ra, Charni Road, Dahisar, Mira Road, Naigaon and Nallasopara. WR will introduce 10 new local train services from November 1.
Services have also been increased on the harbour route till Goregaon, and trains will also be run between Virar and Dhanu Road. Speed of 26 trains have been increased. Goyal also directed railway officials to play soft music at stations like it is played at airports.