Indian Railways completed 200 projects during COVID-19 period! Helped railways plan for future, says Goyal

The lockdown period during the COVID-19 pandemic helped Indian Railways to finish several pending projects. On Thursday, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that during the novel coronavirus outbreak period, Indian Railways had completed around 200 long pending projects and this helped the national transporter in planning for the future, according to a PTI report. While addressing the FICCI’s third edition of Smart Railways Conclave on ‘Future of Rail Transport’, the Railway Minister said that he wanted the Indian Railways network to be a modern, safe and service-oriented, agile, reliable part of the economy as well as driven by technology. According to the minister, technology will be overarching support system. This will ensure that the national transporter works towards a plan for a better future for logistics and transport, both of goods and passengers, he stated.

According to the Railway Minister, during the COVID-19 pandemic period, Indian Railways was able to complete around 200 long pending infrastructure works. The completion of these railway infrastructure projects helped the ministry in better planning for the future, he said. Goyal further said that at present, the speed of freight train services on the Indian Railways network is twice the speed that was a year ago and these trains are now part of the new zero based timetable.

Indian Railways has taken up 40 smart yards for predictive maintenance. The Railway Ministry’s plan is to make all Indian Railways’ maintenance yards fully mechanised with modern equipment so that the national transporter can ensure safety and security of all its trains as well as passengers, Goyal said. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, today Indian Railways is relentlessly working at ensuring that its customers are provided with a satisfactory experience. Now, with the merger of railway budget with the national budget, the Railway Ministry is able to resist political pressures and it is focused on completing railway projects that are pending for a long time, he added.