PRIME MINISTER
LAUNCHES NATIONAL RAIL VIKAS YOJANA
RS.15,000
CRORE TO BE SPENT IN FIVE YEARS TO STRENGTHEN RAILWAYS
Railways, like other
infrastructure sectors should step up efforts to mobilize funds
from non-conventional sources, said Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, here today. Launching the National Rail Vikas Yojana
which is aimed at removing capacity bottlenecks in the critical
sections of Indian Railway networks with an investment of Rs.15,000
crore over the next five years, the Prime Minister said that development
and modernization of railways is very crucial to the all-round
development of the country and increase in employment opportunities.
Prime Minister further said that Indian Railways which has entered
the 150th year of its operation will benefit in a big
way from the Special Railway Safety Fund created last year and
the newly created National Rail Vikas Yojana. The strengthening
of the Golden Quadrilateral under the National Rail Vikas Yojana
alongwith the revolutionary changes taking place in the road sector
will help reduce the travelling time between the four metros of
the country and ultimately pave the way for speedy industrial
and economic development, the Prime Minister added.
In his welcome address,
Railway Minister, Shri Nitish Kumar said that efforts are already
on to mobilize additional funds from within the country and multilateral
agencies. Indian Railways has recently received an amount of 313.6
million dollars from the Asian Development Bank. Expressing his
gratitude to the Prime Minister for his valued guidance the Railway
Minister said that replacement of aging assets of Railways using
the resources from the Special Railway Safety Fund is in full
swing and the National Rail Vikas Yojana launched today will further
help Railways to complete many ambitious projects within the stipulated
time frame. Shri Nitish Kumar said that the new Yojana includes
strengthening of the Golden Quadrilateral, construction of four
mega bridges and increasing rail connectivity to ports and developing
multi-modal corridors to the hinterland. The Railway Minister
stated that traffic on the Golden Quadrilateral in many sections
is saturated and strengthening of the rail network on the segment
include doubling of single line patches, laying multiple lines
wherever needed, reduction in speed differential between freight
and passenger trains by increasing speed of freight train by 100
KMPH, electrification and modernization of signalling equipment.
He further stated that in addition to the sanctioned projects
study is being done to identify new projects.
Construction of four
mega bridges under the Yojana will bring about improvement in
rail connectivity and thereby socio-economic development of the
remote and inaccessible areas where these bridges are being constructed,
the Minister said. These projects include two bridges over river
Ganga, one over river Brahmaputra and one bridge over river Kosi.
The Railway Minister further disclosed that to implement the projects
under the new Yojana, a Company named Rail Vikas Nigam has been
formed and it will be operational very soon. Speaking on the on
going special efforts to ensure safety on rail, Shri Nitish Kumar
stated that the resources available under Special Railway Safety
Fund and National Rail Vikas Yojana will be of tremendous help
in replacing aging assets and facilitating modernization of rail
system in the country.
Addressing the august
gathering, Chairman Railway Board, Shri I.I.M.S. Rana said that
right sizing, e-governance, use of information technology and
delegation of power will give an altogether different touch to
customer care which is the corner stone of railways operation.
The other dignatories present on the occasion were Minister of
State(Independent Charge) for Road Transport and Highways Maj
Gen (retd) B.C.Khanduri, Ministers of State for Railways Shri
Bandaru Dattatreya, Shri A.K. Moorthy and Members of Railway Board.
The Yojana was launched
today by inaugurating the commencement of three specific projects
representing three components of the Yojana via satellite arrangement
between Prime Minister’s residence in New Delhi and the project
sites spread in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Gujrat. The three projects
are mega bridge over river Ganga between Munger-Khagaria,
doubling of Gooty-Pullampeta line on the Mumbai-Chennai
route as part of Golden Quadrilateral and gauge conversion of
Gandhidham-Palanpur Line as part of port connectivity.
