NITISH KUMAR INAUGURATES ELECTRIC
LOCO CONTEST
RAILWAYS
TO IMPROVE UPON CABIN CREW FACILITIES
Railway Minister
Shri Nitish Kumar has inaugurated an inter railway electric locomotive
contest here today. Eleven locos, both passenger and freight,
having state-of-art technical features and crew friendly facilities
participated in the contest which was organized as part of Indian
Railways on-going effort to step up safety in train operations.
Inaugurating the
contest, the Railway Minister said that the operational efficiency
and comfort level of the latest electric locos now in use across
Indian Railways help improve safety on trains. Highlighting the
crucial role of cabin crew in ensuring safety Shri Nitish Kumar
said that these locos are most crew- friendly and offers maximum
amenities to them. The Minister further said that railways intend
to evaluate all the findings and suggestions of today’s contest
to further improve upon the design of locos to be built at Chittaranjan
Locomotive Works (CLW).
The Railway Minister
has announced a cash prize of Rs.2.5 lakh to the Ghaziabad Loco
Shed of Northern Railway which bagged the first prize in the passenger
loco category. The second prize and third prize in this category
went to Baroda Loco Shed of Western Railway and Lallaguda Shed
of South Central Railway. They will be receiving Rs.2 lakh and
Rs.1.5 lakh respectively. In the freight category the loco from
Kanpur Shed of North Central Railway won the first prize getting
a cash prize of 2.5 lakh. In this category the second prize went
to Erode Shed of Southern Railway and the third prize to Tughlakabad
Shed of West Central Railway getting Rs.2 lakh and Rs.1.5 lakh
respectively. The Railway Minister has also announced Rs. 1 lakh
to Northern Railway for the arrangement made by them for the contest.
Later, interacting
with the Media the Minister said that air-conditioning of the
cabin and provision of other facilities has been tried on some
of the locos. Emphasising on the significance of electric locos
Shri Nitish Kumar said that 60% of the freight and 50% of the
passenger traffic is worked on electric traction. Twenty five
per cent of the total rail network in the country has been electrified
so far, he added.
Minister of state
for Railways, Shri A.K.Moorthy, Chairman Railway Board, Shri I.I.M.S.Rana
and other senior officials of different Zonal Railways attended
the function.
