Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to making Indian Railways a modern, efficient, and environmentally sustainable transport system. He said Indian Railways is in good financial condition and the government is working to further improve it. Mr. Vaishnaw stated this while replying to the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the working of the Ministry of Railways yesterday. He said passengers’ fares have not been increased since 2020 in the country and it is very cost-effective in comparison to other countries. He also said Indian Railways has provided five lakh jobs in the last ten years and the recruitment process is underway for over one lakh jobs. While speaking about the punctuality of train operation, Mr Vaishnaw stated that Indian Railways has achieved an on-time performance of over 90 per cent through the adoption of advanced signalling systems, real-time monitoring, AI-driven scheduling and predictive maintenance. The Minister said, that to manage passenger demand during peak festive seasons, Indian Railway has operated a record number of special trains. Mr Vaishnaw also informed the House that the total number of trains operation now exceeds Pre-COVID levels which reflects the railway’s commitment to reliability and improved service delivery.
The Minister added that the government has focused on bringing down rail accidents in the country. He said, there is a lot of focus on railway and passenger safety. Mr Vaishnaw said, many technical changes have been made and Indian Railways is constantly improving its services by taking big steps like longer rails, electronic interlocking and fog safety devices. He added that India has become a big exporter of railways. The Minister said it is exporting metro coaches to Australia, railway coaches to Uthe K, Saudi Arabia and France and operation equipment to Mexico, Spain, Germany and Italy.
When the Minister was replying, the members from Congress, DMK, TMC and other opposition parties protested over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on Mahakumbh in Prayagraj.
Later, the House took up discussion on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Jal Shakti for 2025-26. However, the opposition continued their protest leading to the adjournment of the House for the day.
