Newly appointed Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu focuses on being liable

New Delhi: A day after being appointed the new railway minister, Suresh Prabhu stressed that he would seek “back to back accountability” from officials in order to internationally benchmark the issues of safety and passenger amenities.

The minister also said he would soon unveil a web portal for people to directly connect with him on all issues that affect the railways.“I will be accountable for ensuring that safety and passenger amenities meet international benchmarks, and likewise I will ensure that similar accountability is fixed back to back for officials too,” Mr Prabhu said on Tuesday.

Reiterating that his basic aim was to ensure that the Indian Railways got “transformed” in the next three years, Mr Prabhu said he was open to ideas from all quarters.

“I have set in the process to unveil a web portal, which will allow people to post complaints and suggestions. Also, I will make sure that each of the complaints and feedback are attended to and people are provided with action taken reports,” he added.

On bullet trains, for which Japan had shown much interest during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Tokyo visit, the railway minister said, “The main focus will be on improving train services for the travelling masses.

Bullet train projects between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will continue. But the percentage of passengers in such trains will be just about five per cent of the total traffic. So we will be more focused on services for the maximum passengers.”