Jaipur: Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani on Saturday said that the work of electrification of Delhi-Jaipur route is in progress and most likely it will be completed by December 2018.
"We are working for completion of electrification of Jaipur-Delhi route and hopefully it will be completed in December next year," said Lohani, who is on a two day visit of Rajasthan.
The work of electrification is also going on at rapid pace, which will improve average speed of the trains in the country. Lohani said that in this financial year so far,
railways have completed 4,000 kms of electrification. In next financial year, 7,500 kms will be done.
The railways are promoting electric engines as it is environment friendly and also it will improve speed of the train.
Besides, he inspected Jaipur railway station, which is all set to add two more railway platforms. The construction work of platform 6 and 7 is in progress.
Moreover, as the city is on the expansion mode, the railways would develop Khatipura as a satellite railway station.
Moreover, he emphasized on the need to improve human resources, empowering ground staff by supporting them, generate more revenue rather than taking cost-cutting measures. He also talked about safety of trackmen. Safety shoes will be given to trackmen, who inspect and repair the lines while walking along the railway tracks. They will be provided with safety shoes in North Western Railways on pilot project basis. Later, it may be expanded to other divisions.
He said that at the moment, the railways have taken track renewal and proper maintenance of tracks on priority. Even though, it has affected punctuality of the trains but in long run it will have better results. In the past, 220 km of tracks were being renewed every month but now they are doing track renewal of 400 kms per month.
"He (Lohani) met all department's head at regional railway headquarter at Jagatpura, where officials informed him about works done for providing more facilities to passengers, construction work and electrification of lines," said Tarun Jain, chief public relations officer, North Western Railway.
By the end of 2018, there would be 983 stations will be installed with CCTV. Rail services will add more facilities such as introduction of bio-toilet in all rail services.
