Industry leaders should collaborate with Railways: Piyush Goyal

KOCHI: Indian Railways is pacing towards becoming a net-zero carbon emitter, said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal while addressing the inaugural session of Rail Connect 2.0, a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries, on Tuesday. He urged industry leaders to collaborate and partner with Railways to provide cost effective solutions in the logistics sector. 

According to him, the railways has witnessed a transformation during the Covid-19 period. “Railways utilised the Covid phase as an opportunity to run Shramik trains, bring back freight share, reinvigorate processes, make policy changes, engage with the private sector, technology providers and improve infrastructure,” he said. The plan to transform Railways and its willingness to collaborate and partner with industry leaders was discussed by Vino Kumar, CEO and chairman of Railway Board at the conference.  

The future of Railways, ease of doing business for the railway industry in India and indigenous manufacturing were some of the topics the conference focussed on. It also deliberated upon the emerging opportunities for the private sector in rail transportation industry covering public private partnership, technology, urban mobility, station development, locomotive modernisation, rail freight, communication technology and the safety, health and sustainability standards of the railway system.