Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government was working with speed to transform the railways, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said investment of Rs 50 lakh crore was needed for modernisation, improving facilities and boosting infrastructure and supported private sector participation.
He also said that no passenger had died in rail accident since April 1 last year due to constant focus on safety.
Replying to the marathon debate on demands for grants of his ministry, Goyal accused the Congress of slow pace of work during its rule and said the Modi government has taken a 360-degree view of challenges and looked at problems from their root cause.
He told members from Kerala and West Bengal that projects were languishing due to lack of availability of land, which was the responsibility of the State governments.
The minister said 99 members had participated in the discussion that lasted over 11 hours and with his participation, the number of those who had taken part in the debate had touched 100. The House later passed the demands for grants of the ministry for 2020-21.
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The minister said the investment had grown in the last five years and this year Rs 1.61 lakh crore have been allocated for capital expenditure in the Railways.
Goyal said rather than spending thin over a large number of projects, which was the practice in the past, the Railways have identified 58 supercritical and 68 critical projects based on their important parameters such as easing congestion and boosting electrification.
"We have worked with focus due to which we have been able to get good outcomes," he said.
The minister said a roadmap had been prepared for modernisation of railways including electrification, increasing the speed of trains and investment of Rs 50 lakh crore will be required in the nearly about years.
Responding to members who had objected to the involvement of private sector, he said that if the government was to provide the entire investment, it would entail putting extra burden on people through taxation or there would be cut in social spending.
He said the capacity of the private sector should be used and facilities such as automatic signalling system and modern coaches should be provided by mobilising cheap sources of money.
As the Congress members referred to the privatisation of Air India, Goyal said that it reveals the truth the party members will be embarrassed.
He said while around 600 km tracks were electrified in 2013-14 during the rule of Congress-led UPA, the NDA government had electrified 5200 km against its target of 6,000 km in a year. "If you had done it during your tenure, the Railways would not have suffered," he said.
He alleged that the UPA government had not cared to provide enough resources to provide pension to railway employees. The minister said the pension fund requirement had grown from Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 50,000 crore to implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations and the NDA government moved in a calibrated manner so that common man was not burdened.
Showing a list of projects of different States, he said that if the land is made available, the Railways will do the needful. "States which help in land acquisition, the government is ready to implement them at a fast speed," he said.
Citing an example, he said Uttarakhand government had made land available and got all the environment clearances for the rail line which will help connect the four major pilgrimage places in the state.
He said the railways were divided into silos and departmentalism earlier and the proposal of merging eight services was implemented after consultations.
Goyal said that no other railway in the world had so many different services.
Noting that some youths have apprehensions, he said that there will be no harm to anyone's career.
He said that there will be no recruitment from UPSC for a year and "short-term pain will give long-term gains." He said that over 1.35 lakh posts were in various processes of being filled.
The minister said the government has given priority to the northeast and several projects have been undertaken to connect State capitals in the region. Referring to work on linking Banihal to Baramulla, he said once the work is completed, it will result in connecting Kanyakumari to Baramulla.
"It will be one ticket, one country... The entire system will be connected," he said.
The minister said that Railways was constructing the world's highest bridge on the Chenab river and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had provided for extra allocation for the same.
He defended the move to involve the private sector, saying that Railways needed vast capital and the government cannot provide the money unless it puts an extra burden on people. The minister said passenger safety was a topmost priority for the government.
"In 2019-20, not one passenger has died in a rail accident," Goyal said.
Referring to Modern Coach Factory in Rae Bareli, which is the constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said that not one coach was built in the facility till later half of 2014 when the previous BJP-led government was in power.
The minister said that due to efforts of the Modi government, 1,000 coaches were built there in 2019-20 and it was going to create a record by manufacturing 2,000 coaches in this fiscal. "I cannot recall a government facility working to 200 per cent capacity," he said.
Goyal said the employees had worked through the night and prepared answers to all the issues raised by members. Referring to the demand of some Opposition members for a separate budget, he said it was a "balloon" and political declarations were made which remained unfulfilled for decades.
Goyal said that Prime Minister Modi has innovative ideas for the progress of railways, which are for benefit of its staff as also the passengers.
He said modern coaches help contain damage during an accident but old the previous governments continued to go for old-style coaches.
"Our effort is to replace them at the earliest," he said, adding that over 9,000 coaches have been added in the last five years. "The result is due to change in thinking," he said.
Referring to Vande Bharat train, he said it was an indigenously built and nod has been given for production of 44 more such trains.
Referring to cleanliness initiatives, he said that three lakh cubic metres of trash were removed from Mumbai roads.
He said 99 per cent of coaches have been provided with bio-toilets and the step will prevent early degradation of tracks and save money which would have gone in their replacement.
The minister said that Indian railway was saving on water and 16,000 litres of water used earlier to clean a rake has been reduced to 1500 litre of which 900-litre is again saved through recycling.
The minister said that as part of efforts to reduce the use of petroleum products and also prevent pollution, the Railway has set a target of 100 per cent electrification.
"It will save diesel and power will be produced in the country creating jobs here," he said.
He said Prime Minister had suggested using the spare railway land for solar energy and the target to produce 20,000 MW clean energy.
"When the requirement of the railway is met, it will be the first in the world with net-zero pollution," he said.
Goyal said when he meets foreign delegations, they are surprised by Prime Minister's innovative ideas.
Referring to Kisan Rail, he said a group is examining ways to implement it in public-private partnership mode so that farmers are able to sell their produce in any part of the country through cold chains.
The minister said that bright lights have been put at railway stations to make them safer and the initiative has also been taken to create toilet facilities in circular areas near stations.
The minister said the escalators and lifts are being provided at a far greater pace than in the past. He said 2.70 crore people had used hi-speed Wi-Fi of railways in February.
Referring to late running of trains, he said the railways had moved on the issue methodically and focused first on trains that ran late by eight hours or so.
He said automatic capturing devices had been placed to reflect the correct time of arrival of trains at various points and prevent wrong reporting.
The minister said the government had moved strictly to remove touts and some software have been seized.
He urged people to be cautious against touts. The minister said he feels there is no need for ticketing agents and people who need assistance can go to common service centres.
The minister said that the number of stoppages of trains will be rationalised keeping in mind factors such as profitability, punctuality and convenience.
He said the railways were divided into silos and departmentalism earlier and the proposal of merging eight services was implemented after consultations.
Goyal said no other railway in the world had so many different services.
Noting that some youth have apprehensions, he said there will be no harm to anyone's career.
He said there will be no recruitment from UPSC for a year and "short-term pain will give long-term gains." He said over 1.35 lakh posts were in various processes of being filled.
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