Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha right now mentioned that improvement, acquisition of new coach technology on Indian Railways (IR) is a steady course of and resolution for the identical is taken as per requirement and evaluating the rolling inventory technology obtainable.
The railway minister mentioned that after the acquisition of LHB technology, the next actions in this regard have been taken by the Indian Railways:
Modern Coach Factory (MCF) / Rae Bareli has signed a ToT (Transfer of Technology) contract with M/s Dawonsys, South Korea for design, improvement, manufacturing and testing of aluminum physique passenger coaches.
Indian Railways has developed technology indigenously and manufactured Vande-Bharat trains (Train- 18). Indian Railways has already awarded the contract for design, improvement, manufacture, provide, integration, testing and commissioning of IGBT-based 3-Phase propulsion, management and different gear (together with Bogie assemblies) for the manufacture of 44 Vande Bharat trains with improved suspension technology and vitality effectivity. Further, procurement of propulsion of 58 extra Vande Bharat trains is beneath the course of.
Indian Railways additionally plans to accumulate/manufacture 400 new era vitality environment-friendly Vande Bharat trains with higher vitality effectivity and passenger driving expertise. The specification for the identical is beneath finalization.
Meanwhile, The Railways might want to goal income of ₹3.5 lakh crore and funding of ₹3-lakh crore yearly to fulfil the nation’s aspirations, the federal government instructed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
During a dialogue on the working of the ministry, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw attacked opposition members and previous governments, alleging they solely talked about imaginative and prescient and getting ready idea notes, however, didn’t take any motion to implement them.
In March 2020, the national rail network comprised 126,366 km (78,520 mi) of track over a route of 67,368 km (41,861 mi) and 7,325 stations. It is the fourth-largest national railway network in the world (after those of the United States, Russia, and China). 36.83% of routes are double or multi-tracked. As of April 2021, 45,881 km (28,509 mi) or 71% of the broad-gauge routes have been electrified with 25 VK AC electric traction.
It is one of the busiest networks in the world, transporting 8.086 billion passengers and 1.208 billion tons of freight annually. Indian Railways is the world’s eighth-largest employer, with more than 1.254 million employees as of March 2020. As of March 2020, IR’s rolling stock consisted of 293,077 freight wagons, 76,608 passenger coaches and 12,729 locomotives.
The minister mentioned that to fulfil the aspirations of the nation, its residents and the longer-term era over the subsequent 10 years, the Railways should goal to ferry 1,000 crore passengers yearly from about 800 crores at the moment, and rising the cargo load from 140 crore tons to 300 crore tons.
Successive administrations of the Government of India have worked on improving the railways. Projects include the electrification of the entire IR network by 2024. new trains that can operate on existing rail infrastructure at 200 km/h, and new high-speed railways that can operate at speeds above 300 km/h.
India has also played a supporting role in the improvement of rail infrastructure overseas. As of 2018, India has invested over $1 billion towards upgrading railways and trains in Sri Lanka using ‘Make in India‘ technology.
As of 2020, only three rail connections to foreign countries were functioning, two to Nepal and one to Bangladesh, though an 18 km railway link to Bhutan is also under construction and there have been efforts to reinstate the historic Boat Mail train to Sri Lanka.
“If we won’t do it then we will never be able to cross-subsidize passenger fare,” he mentioned.
Published by: Shivani Bhalke
Edited by: Subbuthai padma
