Indian Railways has planned to increase its passenger capacity up to 1000 crores by 2030, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated in a conversation with the Indian Express Idea Exchange. During his conversation, the union minister talked about various measures and initiatives being undertaken to improve the regime of railways in the country.
Confirmed Train Ticket
On being asked about the issues faced by the passengers regarding the confirmation of train tickets from IRCTC, the minister said that IRCTC is working constantly to improve the facility of ticket reservations. “In one case, one technology that we have implemented recently, the sections on which we implemented has given a 24 per cent increase in the number of Reserved seats or confirmed seats,” the minister told Express.
Regarding the allotment of a vacant seat, the minister said that station-wise reservation quota and Artificial Intelligence-based algorithms determine the allocation of seats to the passengers based on their journey details. “These kinds of technologies are being used but the overall picture is we need to significantly increase the capacity and that is what we are focused on in an obvious laser-sharp focus. We are working on increasing the capacity,” Vaishnaw stated.
Railways under Modi Government
The minister highlighted the development of railways over the past decade under the Modi government. “In the last nine-and-a-half years, we have added 26,000km of new tracks. At present, we are adding new tracks at the rate of 14 km/day, the highest in the world.” Almost 94 per cent of the railway lines have been electrified, Vaishnaw added.
Revamping the New Delhi Railway Station
In the process of revamping the “New Delhi Railway Station,” the government is planning to overhaul an entire network of roads to decongest the surroundings of the New Delhi Railway Station.
“There is a complete road network which is being built around the station. And that road network will decongest a large part of the city for many years to come, that kind of planning is what we are looking at. We should not take that project as a station project. We have to take that project more as a transportation hub for a large part of the city,” the minister said.