Safety of passengers top priority: Mamata Banerjee

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the safety of passengers will be accorded a top priority by the Indian Railways authority.

”The safety of passengers cannot be compromised upon. It should be accorded a top priority.

There should be a periodical review and inspection to ensure that all safety-related activities are done as per the rules,” the Minister stated, while addressing the two-day conference of General Managers of all Zonal Railways and Production Units.

”The Indian Railways works round-the-clock just like an army where every moment matters and every operation needs to be done in a disciplined manner,” she added.

She said that maintenance of rolling stock, especially coaches, wagons and engines, is quite important and no laxity on this should be tolerated as it is related to safety.

Expressing concern over the recent increase in the cases of derailment, she said that the engineering department needs to look into this aspect more carefully and ensure that all their activities like track maintenance, equipment maintenance and rolling stock maintenance is done effectively and timely.

Emphasising the need to maintain punctuality in running of the trains, the Minister said that monitoring of punctuality should be undertaken vigorously at all levels which include Railway Board level, Zonal Railway level and Divisional Railway level.

Referring to delays in execution of some of the projects, the Minister pointed out that General Managers should monitor it personally and review the performance of contractors from time to time to ensure early completion of the projects.

On the functioning of Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the Minister said that RDSO needs to further improve its functioning and system in the most effective and transparent manner so that the best quality and reliability is ensured on all equipment and products before introducing them on Indian Railway network.

She said that the targets announced in the Railway Budget should be completed within the current financial year.

Banerjee said that the new trains, which were announced in the Railway Budget, should be run without any delay on a priority basis for the convenience of the public.