Tag Archives: Minister of Railways

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, flagged off the first Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train operating on the Ramayana Circuit. Speaking on the occasion, Reddy said that MOT, in association with IRCTC and Ministry of Railways has also proposed Bharat Gaurav Tourist Trains for Krishna Circuit, Buddhist Circuit and many other circuits.

With around 250 foreign buyers and 150 exhibitors, the first-ever India Tourism Mart (ITM) 2018 was inaugurated by chief guest Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs, Government of India, along with Mohammed Sajid, Minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Handicraft and Social Economy of the Kingdom of Morocco, KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism (I/C), Government of India; Navjot Singh Sidhu, Minister of Local Government, Tourism, Cultural Affairs and Museums, Government of Punjab; Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Government of Kerala and other officials.

In a bid to transform the face of Indian Railways, Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched the first Phase of the World’s largest station redevelopment program comprising 23 major railway stations on Indian railways network. Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar was present to grace the occasion. Chairman, Railway Board, A.K. Mital, Member Engineering, Railway Board, Aditya Kumar Mittal, Member Traffic, Railway Board, Mohd. Jamshed and other Board Members and other distinguished guests were present to grace the occasion. Prabhu said that the Railways have certain advantages out of which one is holding of land on a large scale. He said that Railway Stations is a place where lots of people wait to board a train and thus Railway Station can be developed into an iconic property.

A joint venture agreement was signed between the Ministry of Railways and Government of Kerala for developing railway infrastructure in the state. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways, Government of India , Ashok Kumar Mital, Chairman, Railway Board; Aditya Kumar Mittal, Member Engineering, Board Members and other senior officials were also present on the occasion. The JV Agreement was signed by S.C. Jain, Executive Director(Works) on behalf of Railways whereas it was signed by K.R. Jyothilal, Secretary, Department of Transport and Revenue (Devaswom) on behalf of Government of Kerala. Speaking on the occasion, Prabhu said that the signing of JV Agreements with the State Governments is a farsighted step of the Ministry of Railways by which Railways want to work hand in glove with the State Governments for the development of railway infrastructure in the states. He said that these kinds of JV Agreement is the best example of cooperative federalism for development of the nation as envisioned by our Prime Minister. He pointed out that Kerala has been neglected for too long and now concerted efforts are needed to develop its railway infrastructure. He said that Railway Ministry has given maximum allocation to Kerala during 2014-15 to 2016-17. He further said that Railways is also working on the re-development of Kochi and Ernakulam stations of Kerala State. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman, Railway Board said that today’s JV Agreement will certainly fulfill the rail transport needs of the people of Kerala. He said that Railways want to extend railway network all over particularly in the States where demand is more and rail density is less. He said that railways has very limited resources and thus working in collaboration with …

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has inaugurated Wi-Fi services at eight Mumbai Suburban Railway Stations in Maharashtra viz., Churchgate, Bandra, Bandra Terminus, Dadar Western Railway, Dadar Central Railway, Khar Road, Kalyan and Lokmanya Tilak. The WiFi facility for the visitors and rail users of these eight busy stations of Mumbai Suburban Rail Network has been commissioned by a Railway PSU, RailTel in association with Google for providing high speed state-of-the-art world class internet experience to the commuters. It is being provided at a speed of 1 GBps. A total number of 318 access points, 120 access switches and 30 fibre switches has been installed at these eight stations to provide seamless fast WiFi to the huge number of commuters visiting these stations. In addition to eight stations being launched, RailWire Wi-Fi has been soft launched at eight more stations, Sealdah, Allahabad, Pune, Puri, Tambaram, Chennai Egmore, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Chandigarh. They will be formally launched soon in different parts of the country. During the launch Prabhu said, railway stations are the places where the cross section of the society is available. This initiative is part of bridging the digital divide and providing high speed access network to all rail users. Once implemented this shall be one of the largest public WiFi project in the world. On the occasion of launch, CMD of RailTel said, “Our intent was to fulfill Indian Railway’s vision of providing access to high speed internet to railway passengers through our Optical fiber communication network.”

Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagged off five new trains services for Bihar through video conferencing from Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. The latest train to be flagged off is 63213/63214 Patna–Ara MEMU (Daily) train service. The other trains are Danapur-Saharsa ‘Janhit Express’ (Daily, No. 13205/13206), extension of Jaynagar-Saharsa Janki Express Upto Katihar (Daily, Tr. No. 15283/15284), extension of Patna-Murliganj Koshi Express upto Purnea Court (Daily, Tr. No. 18697/18698) and extension of 53581/53582 Jasidih-Chandan Passenger train up to Banka. This is the first passenger train between newly constructed Chandan-Banka line.

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways, Government of India, inaugurated  the renovated National Rail Museum on January 5, 2016, in the presence of the Minister of State for Railways, Manoj Sinha. Launched on the occasion were National Rail Museum website, eBook, a mobile app, as well as a smart card system for the museum ticketing. Prabhu says that the museums are places of knowledge and learning and is meant for all categories of society. He suggests that there should be a small section in the museum which presents future challenges before the railway sector.