BENGALURU: Indian Railways transports about 3.2 crore passengers a day, which is more than the entire population of Australia, said Divisional Railway Manager of Bengaluru Division Ashok Kumar Verma on Thursday. Speaking at a function to mark the 64th Railway Week Celebrations at ‘Anugraha’ Community Hall in MG Railway Colony, Verma said, “The record number of passengers being transported daily has been achieved by the dedicated workforce that the Railways possess. These staff, who work night and day, need to be safety-conscious and protect themselves and their fellow staffers.”
The first train was run in the country on April 16, 1853, from Boribandur (now Mumbai) to Thane with 14 wooden coaches pulled by three steam locomotives. Railway Week is celebrated annually in memory of this maiden run, Verma said.
“We have come a very long way from that day with 3 million tonnes of goods being transported on a daily basis,” he added.
To mark commendable performance by its staffers, 172 employees of the Group C section, including loco-pilot P Madhavan, who saved an elderly woman from committing suicide on the railway tracks four days ago, were awarded by the DRM. A total of 16 Rolling Shields have been awarded for efficiency in different fields. Bangarpet (best in A1 and A stns), Hindupur (best B Category Station) and Bengaluru East (Best in C & D Category) were honoured while the Level Crossing No 99 between Mulanur and Kuppam ( Kilometre 246/500-600) was judged the best in its category.
Earlier, this week, Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav presented the ‘National Railway Award’ to Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, Bengaluru Division, Railway Protection Force, Debasmita Chattopadhyay Banerjee for rescuing over 1,400 trafficked children through Operation ‘Nanhe Farishteh’.
Furthermore, nine officers of various departments and 59 non-gazetted staff were honoured by General Manager Ajay Kumar Singh in Hubballi.