New Delhi
The functioning of the Ministry of Railways was discussed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The ruling MPs said that there has been a commendable increase in the rail network during the last 10 years. At the same time, opposition MPs raised the issue of security and facilities provided to railway passengers. He said that the railway accidents are not taking the name of stopping.
BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh Maya Narolia said that by the year 2023, the broad gauge network of Indian Railways had been electrified more than 85 percent, compared to only 45 percent in 2014. With this, Indian Railways has joined the world’s largest green rail network. He said that more than 30 thousand kilometers of new tracks have been laid and more than 15 thousand kilometers routes have been doubled. This has increased the efficiency of railway.
Maya Narolia said that by 2024 51 Vande Bharat trains have started. These trains are equipped with world class facilities and are capable of running at a speed of 160–180 kmph. RJD Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Yadav said that there is a festival of Holi right now and every train has more people than capacity. He spoke of the need to provide facilities to the people in the railways. He said that ticket prices have increased significantly. He said that it is a good thing to run premium trains, but old passengers and express trains should not be stopped, the number of coaches should not be reduced in them.
Referring to the first Prime Minister, Congress MP from Telangana Anil Kumar Yadav said that the Indian Railways was nationalized by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. He established several railway zones. At the same time, the first capital train was run during Indira Gandhi’s tenure. Indira Gandhi inaugurated the first metro rail in Kolkata.
Yadav said that people are afraid to travel in passenger train today. A major cause of this fear of passengers is frequent railway accidents. There have been many railway accidents in the last six months. He mentioned several railway accidents in the last two years. He said that in February 2024, a driver went to a freight train on the Hoshiarpur route from Katra in Jammu. After running 60 km, this train could be stopped.
The Congress MP said that on 16 February 2025, the way there was a stampede inside the New Delhi railway station, 18 people died. Who is responsible for this? They wanted to go to Kumbh, go there and take a bath in Kumbh.
Regarding women safety, she said that a pregnant woman was sexually abused in a train running between Coimbatore to Tirupati. Not only this, the woman was thrown out of the train. He said that the speed of Vande Bharat trains can go from 180 to 200 kilometers, but the Vande Bharat train is running at a speed of only 80 kilometers per hour. The reason for this is that we do not have a fast track and their maintenance facilities to run Vande India.