Chennai: The number of consequential train accidents in the country reduced by 62 per cent. From 118 in 2013-14, the number has plummeted to 73 in 2017-18, said Union Minister for Railways, Piyush Goyal while speaking on the occasion of completion of four years of the current government.
The minister also launched two mobile applications - Rail Madad and Menu on Rail for improvement of travel experience. The Rails Madad app is for grievance redressal as it allows passengers to lodge complaints through mobile app/web platform and enables them to check real-time feedback on the status of redressal of their complaints. It displays various helpline numbers (e.g., Security, Child helpline etc) and provides direct calling facility for immediate assistance The app will be available on Android and IOS platforms. Website version is also available for users.
Menu on Rails, as the name suggests would allow passengers to check the list of meals and beverages served on all type of trains and their prices.
It covers four categories namely beverages, breakfast, meals and a-la-carte. The a-la-carte menu would display a total of 96 items under categories like Jain food, meals, breakfast, diabetic food, combos, breakfast and a lot more.
The prices, inclusive of taxes for a few standard items for both trains and stations would be provided. It would display the menu to be served in Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto group of trains.
Pre-booked food items to be served would be displayed separately for EC and CC classes in case of Shatabdi trains and three classes for Rajdhani and Duronto trains. In case of Duronto trains, food items for Sleeper class are also displayed. Moreover, menu is also given for late running of these trains.
Piyush further added that as much as Rs 16,000 crore from the total Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) fund of Rs 1 lakh crore has already been spent by the ministry in a bid to improve safety. Also, there has been a push in the process of replacement of old tracks with the new ones. From 2,296 kilometres in 2013-15, the number rose to 4,405 kilometres in 2017-18.
“In the last four years, WiFi was installed in 600 stations and we now aim to increase the number to 6,000. Also, in this year, we would work on bettering the signal system,” said Goyal.
He further added that the government was able to save nearly Rs 13,000 crore by going for electrification and this also paves a way towards environmental safety.
