We have to ensure that railways become the growth engine for India," Railway Minister

We have to ensure that railways become the growth engine for India," Railway Minister

Margao: Union minister for railways Suresh Prabhu on Sunday asserted that railways will play a "key role" in Goa's development by ensuring "connectivity" of the state to more parts of the country.

"We have to make Goa the hub of growth that it deserves to be. That will put Goa on a different development trajectory," Prabhu said, while speaking at a function organized to mark the inaugural run of the Goa-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express at the Margao railway station.

Prabhu announced that the long-pending demand of Goans to have a Goa-Tirupati train will be met soon. "The Goa-Tirupati link will be provided as soon as possible," he said.

The construction of five rail overbridges in Goa has already been sanctioned and work will begin in the next five months, the minister said.

Prabhu voiced his determination to aggressively push through his five-year perspective action plan for Indian Railways, which includes multi-tracking and electrification of railway routes, modernization of coaches, and infrastructure development, which, he said, would boost the economic growth of the country. "We have to ensure that railways become the growth engine for India," he said.

Prabhu also said that many of his budget announcements have already been implemented with a significant number of works having already started. As part of the 'Make in India' initiative, he said that while thousands of crores worth of contracts have already been awarded; railways would also see an investment on a large-scale in the next five years.

Outlining the focus areas of the railways, the Union minister said that safety, speed, bridging the demand-supply mismatch, better customer service, transparency and increased capacity to deliver, "all rolled into action plan is already under implementation".

The double-tracking of the Konkan Railway route, foundation stone for which has recently been laid, would be completed in the next few years, he said. On modernization of coaches; the first two coaches have already been rolled out; Prabhu added, "People will have a different kind of travel experience."

Referring to the inordinate delays in completing railway projects in the past, the minister said he has managed to reduce the timeline between announcement of project and issuing tenders from six years to six months. "My target is to reduce it still further and make it more transparent," he stressed.

Stating that 10,000km of electrification of routes will be completed in the next five years, Prabhu said that electrification of routes made both economic as well as environmental sense. Konkan Railway, alone, will save nearly 100 crore upon the electrification of its route, he said. Chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, speaking on the occasion, urged Prabhu to expedite the double tracking of the KR route, as it would reduce road accidents. Introduction of diesel multiple unit and electric multiple unit trains on the KR route will largely take the pressure off the roads, he said.

PWD minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik and South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, also spoke on the occasion.

Source :Times Of India