Railways set for major developments over next seven years: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlights rapid growth of Indian railway network, surpassing France, with new technologies and developments.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the length of the railway network created in India over the past 10 years is greater than the entire network of France and that the network is also developing very rapidly.

Delivering the keynote address after inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of Janmabhumi daily in Kozhikode on Sunday (November 3), Mr. Vaishnaw pointed out that of the 31,000 km of track newly constructed during the period 2014-24, as much as 5,300 km were created in just one year.

Furthermore, he noted that 95% of the tracks have been electrified, with 44,000 km covered in the past 10 years. Indian Railways, he added, is undergoing massive transformation and will be on par with developed countries in the next seven years.

Listing out the latest developments including bullet trains, the bridge across the Chenab River that stands 35 m taller than the Eiffel Tower, the Vande Bharat, Vande Sleeper, Amrit Bharat, and Namo Bharat rapid trains, he said that the pace of change is swift and incorporates new technologies.

Analysing the development of the 35 Amrit Bharat Stations in Kerala that are undergoing massive development Mr.Vaishnaw alleged non-cooperation from the state government in various matters, such as land acquisition. “They repeatedly bring up the K-Rail project, yet they do not address the environmental and technical concerns we raised. Instead, they continue to raise questions in Parliament”, he said.

Elaborating on the development plan for the Kozhikode railway station, he said that five acres of nearby land will be developed into an IT hub. There will be scope for three additional lines, which can be explored later, in case the capacity is to be increased, he added.

Also serving as the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Vaishnaw spoke about the Indian Institute of Creative Technology, which is to come up in Mumbai soon. “Once the concept is developed, a whole chain of IICTs will come up in the country”, he added.