Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohaini today said that the Indian Railways has made several attempts to facilitate the improvement of railway stations and the movement of passenger trains in the past four years. “Standard ramps, parking space determination in the arrangements made on railway stations for the convenience of the Divyang passengers, slippery way from parking lot to station building, indicator of proper visibility, drinking water taps, toilets on the ground, help booths, Engraving on the edges of platforms, Moving from one platform to another platform among other facilities have been made here. Similarly, in the trains, many facilities have been provided keeping in mind the Divyang people,” he said.
In a written reply to a question by MP Mahesh Poddar in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohaini informed that during the last five years i.e. 2013-14 to 2017-18 and current year, Rs. 7201.62 crores have been allocated for passenger amenities, against which Rs 5824.59 crores have been spent. Regarding the needs of the people, standard ramps for uninterrupted entry on 2586 stations, fixing of at least two parking spaces on 1429 stations, parking slabs at 1465 stations, no slide-free route till the station building, proper on 1474 stations. Indicators of visibility, 1989 stations at least one tap of drinking water for people, 1908 stations have at least one toilet and 1131 sq.m. on the ground floor.
According to the revised policy guidelines of Indian Railways, automatic stairs should be provided on the platforms of more than one lakh passengers in the railway stations. Lifts are being provided on the basis of availability of priority and resources at different stations. So far, 584 automatic staircases have been provided at 215 stations and 417 lifts have been provided at 182 stations. In order to make the trains compatible with the Divisions, there are approximately 3,800 Divyang Riding Bands (SLRD / SRD) available in the Indian Rail Fleet. Compartments and toilets have been properly designed in accordance with the requirement of passengers travelling in Divyang / Wheelchair in these coaches. These riding boards have wide entrance doors, wide berths, wide compartments, large toilets and toilet door etc.
Apart from this, the riding coaches with similar facilities are being manufactured in the production units of Indian Railways, which will be included in the service after compulsory scrutiny and tests, in the Lanke Hofmann Bush (LHB) variety coaches for Divyang people. In order to assist the visually impaired passengers, the newly constructed riding papers, which have been crafted in Braille scripts, have been provided. Passenger Friendly service has been started for booking of free wheel chair service and porter service through PSU under NGO, Charitable Trust, CSR at major railway stations and the responsibility of disrupting this facility has been entrusted to IRCTC.
NGOs, Charitable Trusts, PSUs etc., this service can be arranged on the basis of a service provider or payment on their own.