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Focus on safety, convenience of passengers, FM directs railways

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NEW DELHI: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday told railways to expedite conversion of 40,000 normal rail bogies to Vande Bharat standards to enhance passenger safety , convenience and comfort. She also directed officials to implement the Kavach system in a phased manner and to meet the allocated capital expenditure target in the stipulated time frame.

While reviewing the railways capex plan the FM urged officials to focus on capacity augmentation , safety and commuter convenience, including doubling and electrification of existing tracks and also laying of new railway lines across India.

Railway officials informed the FM that Kavach-related works are currently in progress in over 3,000 route km on the Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai sections. They also apprised Sitharaman of the operationalisation of Kavach Version 4.0 on Kota-Sawai Madhopur Section of West Central Railway. Till Sept 16, the entire 108 km stretch from Kota to Sawai Madhopur was successfully operationalised with Kavach Version 4.0 at a record pace of 54 km per month.

On the development with regard to three Economic Railway Corridors, the railway ministry officials updated the FM that 434 railway projects have been identified totalling 40,900 km with a cumulative investment plan of around Rs 11.2 lakh crore. tnn

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