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Minister of State for Railways, Shri R.Velu has stressed upon the importance of providing good quality of services at all Railway stations. Inaugurating the two-day Conference of Chief Electrical Engineers of Railways, here today, the Minister said that the stations not only should be functional but should also be aesthetic, comfortable and passenger friendly with good quality of lighting, water supply and a friendly railway man to help every customer in need.
The Minister said that as an accepted policy of Indian Railways, Railway electrification is the part of strengthening of Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals. At present, all the routes on the Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals are electrified except a part of Kolkata-Chennai and Mumbai-Chennair routes. Electrification on Chennai-Kolkata route is in the advanced stage of completion. Work on Mumbai-Chennai routes, the electrification of Renigunta-Guntakal is sanctioned while electrification of Pune-Wadi-Guntakal is being considered under National Rail Vikas Yojna, added the Minister.
Shri Velu further said that since Railways are facing the resource crunch and demands from State Governments for better Rail facilities for the overall development of area is ever increasing, we must explore the possibilities of participation of State Governments by sharing the cost of such projects. Similarly, the states surplus in power generation should offer electricity at cheaper rates, he added.
Congratulating the Chief Electrical Engineers in making the freight loading target of 600 million tonnes possible during the year 2005-05, the Minister said that he sincerely hoped that with similar effort Indian Railways can achieve target of 700 million tonnes freight loading during 2005-06.
Speaking on the occasion, the new Chairman, Railway Board, Shri J.P.Batra said the Indian Railways have made a significant development in freight and passenger segments during the past years. He said that there is a need to accord high priority to provide good service and comforts to customers. Shri Batra said that provision of providing emergency lights should be made at important functional points like booking counters at all the railway stations.
BSC/HK/TS-1/05
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