Last 2.5 years have been the safest in Railways’ history, says Piyush Goyal

The entire rail network will be electrified in India which is the only country in the globe that is experimenting to convert diesel engines into electric, he said.

The last 2.5 years have been safest in the history of Indian Railways as there has been least number of accidents during this period, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the Minister also said a Real-time Train Information System (RTIS) developed in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is being installed on locomotives for automatic acquisition of train movement timings at stations, including arrival and departure or run-through.

They get automatically plotted on the control chart of those trains in the Control Office Application (COA) system, he said.

Assuring members that Railways have taken steps to ensure safety and improve infrastructure, he said, “The last 2.5 years have been the safest in the history of Indian Railways. There have been least number of accidents in the last 2.5 years.”

Mr. Goyal said RTIS gives mid-section updates with a periodicity of 30 seconds and the Train Controllers can now track the location and speed of RTIS enabled locomotives/train more closely, without any manual intervention, which helps in improving the efficiency of train control.

“This real time data of RTIS is also linked with the National Train Enquiry System (NTES). Now more accurate train running information is being passed to passengers, which helps them conveniently plan their arrival at the stations.

“Further, it is extremely handy for emergency messaging from locomotive to control centre, helping in faster response in case of any breakdown or disaster,” he said in his written reply.

The Minister said originally, RTIS was planned to be installed in 2700 locomotives. Additional funds for installation of RTIS in 6000 more locomotives have been sanctioned in 2019, he told Members.

‘No question of closing ICF’

Terming the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) as a “jewel in the crown”, Mr. Goyal said that there is no question of closing it.

Mr. Goyal said the government is proud of achievements of the ICF which manufactured the Vande Bharat Express, the Indian semi-high speed train that can run up to about 160 kmph.

“There is no question of closing the Integral Coach Factory. We are very proud of the achievements of the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. Its engineers and technicians made Vande Bharat...It is a jewel in the crown and there is every effort to grow and expand and modernise that company,” he said.

In reply to a supplementary, the Railways Minister said that there are several bullet trains under consideration.

“As regards the bullet train, several projects are under consideration all across the country and at an appropriate time once the decisions are made we will let the House know,” he said.

Rail network to be electrified

The entire rail network will be electrified in India which is the only country in the globe that is experimenting to convert diesel engines into electric, he said. This is being done in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment towards environment protection, Mr. Goyal said.

“Till now six old diesel locomotives have been converted into three twin electric locomotives at Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi which is a production unit of Indian Railways,” Mr. Goyal said.

These conversions being prototype and since a lot of existing material from discarded locomotives were reused, it is not possible to ascertain the exact cost at this stage, he said.

The Minister said: “These converted prototype locomotives are under extensive field tests and trials. The number of diesel locomotives is to be decided based upon the performance of the converted prototype locomotives.”

In reply to a supplementary, the Minister also said that there is no requirement for conversion of metre gauge and narrow gauge into electric as the government is closing these barring a few places in view of environment or scenic beauty.