Snapshot
During the inspection, he laid special emphasis on safety, security, punctuality of train operations along with best passenger services and amenities.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged railwaymen to work sincerely to meet project timeline.
The Railway Minister arrived in Varanasi on 5 November to review progress of on-going development projects.
During the two-day visit, Vaishnaw inspected various railway facilities in Varanasi and Raebareli.
At Varanasi, he inspected Malviya Bridge and Kashi Railway Station.
Vaishnaw appreciated the efforts of railwaymen in the ongoing rail projects and sought adherence to the timeline.
Keeping the importance of Varanasi in view, various projects are being executed by Lucknow Division of Northern Railway for improving passenger facilities, safety, security and modernisation of railways.
Varanasi is an important city for Indian Railways. Apart from the city’s mythological and spiritual significance, it is a key railway hub that connects remote provinces.
This makes it a vital transit point for hundreds of passenger and freight trains from different parts of the country.
The minister first visited Kashi Station and examined up-gradation work for an intermodal station. He interacted with employees of Northern Railway and discussed operations with the station superintendent.
Thereafter, the minister reviewed the progress of the Malviya Bridge work. He familiarised himself with a new four-lane railway and six-lane road bridge to be constructed parallel to Malviya Bridge.
During the inspection, he laid special emphasis on safety, security, punctuality of train operations along with best passenger services and amenities.
Following this, he travelled to Raebareli where he reviewed track safety during window trailing and suggested guidelines in this regard.
He visited the premises of the Modern Rail Coach Factory in Raebareli, where General Manager of Modern Coach Factory S S Kalsi apprised the minister about the manufacturing and technology of different types of coaches in Modern Coach Factory.
He appreciated the technical elements, design and quality of coaches made in the Modern Coach Factory.
At the factory, he inspected the manufacturing infrastructure of Vande Bharat trainsets and motor coaches of Vande Bharat trainsets being made in the Modern Coach Factory, so that regular production of Vande Bharat trainsets could be started.
Further, in this visit, fully automatic machines such as CNC machines, Laser cutting welding machines, fibre laser cutting machines and automatic wheelset machines in the wheelshop were seen in the Shell assembly line.
Thereafter, he saw the furnishing of economy coaches, and he flagged off the coaches of AC economy class.
The AC economy class coaches have been manufactured with latest technology, providing additional facilities to provide convenient and safe journey to the passengers as well as wide entry gates and toilets have been constructed for the convenience of the differently-abled passengers. The number of berths in AC economy class coaches is 80.