CHENNAI: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday urged railway employees working in the State to learn Tamil. “I recommend that all railway staff working in Tamil Nadu learn Tamil for better interaction with rail users and for smooth and safe operation of trains. India is a country with many beautiful languages and we need to enjoy the beauty of each,” said Vaishnaw while speaking to reporters at ICF.
He arrived in Chennai on Thursday for a two-day visit ahead of the inauguration of several infrastructure projects by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in TN over the next few weeks. He took stock of the various railway infrastructure development works being taken up by the Southern Railway, ICF and other railway units.After inspecting two prototype rakes of Vande Bharat trains being built at ICF, Vaishnaw said the rakes’s construction will be completed by August and the Indian Railways is committed to roll out 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 2023. The trains are cleared for operation at 160 km/h.
“This is a great milestone in the history of Indian Railways and a benchmark in modernisation of passenger train services. ICF is the first production unit of Indian Railways to achieve such a benchmark in the production of LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches,” he said.
On upgrading tracks to run Vande Bharat trains at 160 km/h, he said: “Many aspects of such as trains, tracks, safety and the bridges are to be kept in mind before increasing track speed. Once these are streamlined, speed can be increased.” The lifespan of a Vande Bharat rake is 35 years.
The maximum permitted speed of trains on railway tracks of Southern Railway is 110 km/h and track strengthening works are underway. Asked about the plans to privatise railways, Vaishnaw said there is none.
“The focus is totally on adaptation of new technologies for bettering Indian Railways, such as Kavach (anti-collision safety device) that will be fitted on Vande Bharat Express coaches as well.”Later, the minister flagged off the 12,000th LHB AC II tier coach at ICF’s furnishing factory. ICF general manager A K Agarwal and Southern Railway general manager BG Mallya were present.