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Indian Railways: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Monday that Indian Railways was neglected for more than five decades, but now a radical change is taking place in the NDA government.
Indian Railways: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Monday that Indian Railways remained neglected for more than five decades, but now a radical change is taking place in the NDA government. Addressing a gathering on the occasion of the 41st raising day of the Railway Protection Force in Valsad, Gujarat, the Railway Minister also announced that recruitment of RPF personnel will now be done every year instead of every four-five years. Vaishnav said that railways remained neglected in the country for 50-60 years. Today the Railways is going through a period of radical change. About 35,000 kilometers of tracks have been laid in the last 11 years. This is unprecedented in the history of railways. As a result more trains are running today. He said that currently 1,300 stations are being redeveloped. Of these, 110 stations have been inaugurated after completion of the work, while work on the remaining stations is in progress.
3,500 general coaches added to trains
The minister said that about 60,000 kilometers of tracks have been electrified. When people around the world see these huge achievements of the Railways, they are amazed, because even rich countries have not been able to achieve so much electrification in such a short period of time. He said that based on the experience gained from the first two Namo Bharat services, mass production of Namo Bharat trains will now begin. He further said that main line EMU trains, which are in demand, are also being included. He said that around 3,500 general coaches have been added to the trains and currently 7,000 general coaches are in production. Railways is focusing on providing services to all sections of the society, especially low-income and middle-income families. Vaishnav said the Kavach system has already been installed on about 1,200 engines. Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system that prevents train accidents by automatically applying brakes.
RPF will get modern walkie-talkie sets
On the modernization of the RPF, Vaishnav said all its officers and field staff will soon get VHF (very high frequency) walkie-talkie sets, as requested by the RPF Director General recently. A few days ago, the Director General of RPF had requested that all officers and field personnel of the force should have VHF sets. I assure you that the Chairman of the Railway Board will soon approve it. Once approved, you can purchase as many VHF sets as you want. Last year, 452 sub-inspectors were recruited in the RPF, and the recruitment process for 4,208 constables has now been completed. He said that we were all concerned that if recruitment happens only once every four or five years, it creates problems for candidates who wish to join the Railways. Therefore, we have taken a decision so that a new batch of constables can join the Railways every year. The Minister said that every year recruitment is done for the posts of constable, sub-inspector and inspector. Said that by inducting a new batch every year, the police force will be able to do its work better.
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