The Railway Ministry would bring a White Paper to provide the vision and help formulate the road map to take Railways forward “to realise the ultimate dreams of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday also initiated the process of delegating powers to field functionaries and urged the General Managers to utilise full potential to deliver best services to the people.

“We need funds to invest in various pending projects and future projects. Vigorous efforts are being made to mobilise investments in the Railways sector. Capacity augmentations is another important area which needs attention as we have to decongest highly dense traffic routes through double line, triple line or more lines, besides creating new railway connectivity,” he said adding that Railways will also have to modernise its rolling stocks, signaling system, safety operations etc. 

At the General Managers' Conference, Prabhu said that there are several expectations from various stakeholders of Indian Railways and the GMs should live up to those expectations. The Minister pointed out that there is a need to benchmark Railways' performance so that full potential is utilised to deliver the best services to the people.

Talking about White Paper, Prabhu said that it will provide the vision and help formulate the road map to take Railways forward. He reiterated that railways will not be privatised and the ownership of it will always remain with the Government. 

The Minister also pointed out that he has already initiated the process of delegating powers to field functionaries like General Managers, Divisional Railways Managers and Station Managers with certain responsibilities to deliver.

Referring to the cleanliness, the Minister said that an integrated approach is required to address this important aspect of passenger amenities. “Mechanised laundries have improved quality of linen supplied in the trains and we have to set up more such laundries to cover the entire railway network. The Minister also pointed out that sustained efforts also need to be made to improve the quality of food being served at the railway stations and in trains and for this, base kitchen with quality monitoring should be set up,” he said.

Prabhu also said that he has written letters to Members of Parliament requesting them to use MPlAD funds for railway works for the benefit of the passengers. In his address, MoS Manoj Sinha said that it is the duty of railway administration to fulfill the expectations of railway users and we have to constantly work to improve the image of Indian Railway.

Chairman, Railway Board, Arunendra Kumar outlined the vision for Indian Railways in the next five years. The Conference was also attended by all Railway Board members and representatives of the railway employees unions.