No rail accident in NER division this year, claims GM

GORAKHPUR: Calling it the biggest achievement for North Eastern Railways (NER) GM Rajeev Aggarwal on Thursday said not a single accident took place in the division this year.

“Last year there were five rail accidents but this year there was none and it is for the first time in the history of the division that no one died due to rail accidents. It is a biggest achievement for NER. Safety of passengers is the prime concern of railways,” said Aggarwal.

Hailing railways for punctuality, the GM said timings of trains have improved to 74% compared to 67% last year and attempts were being made to improve it further.

He said loading in trains has also increased by 16% and earning of NER has increased from ₹2211 crore last year to ₹2252 crore this year.

“In the area of energy conservation, NER was striving hard and has installed LED lights in all NER railway stations, colonies and campuses. In the 2020 all rail coaches will have LED lights.”

On passenger amenities and cleanliness, the general manager said, “NER has done commendable work in this field and 95% rail coach toilets have already been turned into bio toilets and with six months remaining 5% will be completed soon. On passenger amenities we spend ₹100 crore every year,” he added.

The GM said a lot of work has been done in digitization and apart from e library, e-office, wi-fi etc unreserved ticketing mobile app has been developed so that passengers could be saved from standing in queues.

He also spoke about organisational re-structuring and said it will speed up decision making process.

“The 150-year-old railway structure started losing effectiveness and efficiency so cabinet committee presided over by PM Modi decided to dissolve eight services of group. Besides, the railways was taking concrete steps, including deployment of women police force, for the security of women passengers,” he said.