Railway accidents down 90 per cent since 2005-2006: Ashwini Vaishnaw in Rajya Sabha

He said there is a “razor sharp” focus on safety and several technological steps have been taken like longer, higher tensile strength rails, electronic interlocking at stations and level crossing gates, increase in fog safety devices, the beginning of rollout of kavach among others. “If we compare… There is a small parameter of weld failure. There has been a reduction of 92%. Rail fractures, which were around 2,500 in 2013-14, have come down to 250. There has been a 91% reduction,” said Vaishnaw.

Talking about recruitment, Vaishnaw said in the last 10 years, more than 5 lakh people were given employment by the railways. “During UPA (2004 to 2014), it was 4 lakh… As we speak, the process for recruitment of 1 lakh employees is ongoing,” he said.

Targeting the Opposition members, he said they “misled the House” by saying recruitment was not being done.

The minister cited the example of the recently completed exam of loco pilots — held for five days through 15 shifts at 346 centres in 156 cities and in 15 languages — in which 18.4 lakh candidates appeared.

He also said that 2.32 crore candidates appeared in the exams for Level 1 to Level 6 recruitments and vacancies were filled without any problem.

The minister said of the total of over 12 lakh employees of the railways, 40% were recruited in the last 10 years.

On questions from Opposition MPs on premium trains being given priority, the minister said: “The government of Modi-ji is dedicated to the poor, and middle class.” He said the number of non-AC coaches in trains have increased.

On crowds in trains during Maha Kumbh, Vaishnaw said several steps were taken to manage the crowd.

He said the stampede at the New Delhi railway station was a “tragic incident”. “All the data of the incident, including CCTV footage, is secure. A high-level committee is probing the incident,” said Vaishnaw. The minister said the Indian Railways has come out of the issues faced by it during the Covid pandemic.

“The railways has a revenue of Rs 2.78 lakh crore, while its expenses are Rs 2.75 lakh crore. All the big expenses are being met by the railways on its own,” said the minister.

Listing the milestones of the railways, the minister said it has made it to the top three countries in the world in cargo carrying capacity with a capacity of 1.6 billion tonnes this year. “China, US and India are the top three countries,” he said. “Track construction has crossed 34,000 km, which is more than the entire train network of Germany,” said Vaishnaw.

He said in the third term of the NDA government, all ICF (Integral Coach Factory) coaches will be replaced by LHB coaches (Linke-Hofmann-Busch).

“A total of 1,040 locomotives are being produced this year, which is more than the US and Europe combined,” said Vaishnaw.

He also told the House that India has started exporting metro coaches to Australia. He said that India has started exporting bogeys to the UK, Saudi Arabia, France and Australia.

India is exporting propulsion parts to France, Mexico, Romania, Spain, Germany, and Italy; passenger coaches to Mozambique, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Railways is also exporting locomotives to Mozambique, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, he said.