Railway Minister Reviews Safety And Passenger Amenities With Railway Board Officers

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed various aspects of safety and improvement in passenger amenities in a meeting with Railway Board officials, GMs of all zones, DG Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and DRMs of all divisions.

New Delhi: A week after the Kanchenjunga Express train accident in West Bengal in which 11 people died in this collision, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed safety and passenger amenities with all Railway Board officials, General Managers (GMs) and Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs), Senior Railway officials said on Monday.

According to senior railways officials, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed various aspects of safety and improvement in passenger amenities in a meeting with Railway Board officials, GMs of all zones, DG Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and DRMs of all divisions.

During the meeting, several decisions were taken by the railways. Reliability of equipment: To improve the reliability of safety-related equipment, it was decided to review the specifications, installation practices and maintenance practices of all key safety-related equipment. This would be done in workshops to be organised by RDSO with all manufacturers.

Base kitchens of IRCTC:To improve food quality, IRCTC and its agencies are upgrading base kitchens at 1,000 locations. The work is in progress and it was decided that it should be completed on a war footing in the next six months.

Train cleaning:Deep cleaning of pantry cars and storage areas will be done on a mission mode and also included in the maintenance schedule so that it can be done regularly.

Cleaning and watering facilities at stations:To improve water availability and cleaning of trains during the journey, it was decided that cleaning and watering facilities will be increased on mission mode. The time required for cleaning and watering will be factored into the timetables for this crucial activity.