Railway fares in India lower than neighboring countries, Ashwini Vaishnav said in Rajya Sabha
New Delhi| Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Tuesday that rail fares in India are much lower than neighboring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He said that there has been a 90 percent reduction in rail accidents so far compared to when RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister.
Responding to the debate on demands for grants under the control of the Railway Ministry for 2025-26, Vaishnav said the national transporter has been able to meet its expenses by emerging from the hardships of the Covid pandemic.
Amid opposition’s uproar over Prime Minister Narendra Modi not being allowed to speak on his statement on Mahakumbh, the minister said the Railways has taken several steps to control crowding at stations and is running several special trains during the festival season. He said that due to Prime Minister Modi’s focus on safety, accidents have decreased by 90 percent compared to when Lalu Prasad took over the ministry.
Railway accidents decreased compared to Lalu Prasad’s tenure
He said, “During Lalu Prasad’s tenure, about 234 accidents and 464 trains derailed in a year, that is, about 700 per year”. During Mamata Banerjee’s tenure, 165 accidents and 230 trains derailed, bringing the number of accidents to 395 per year and during Mallikarjun Kharge’s tenure, 118 accidents and 263 trains derailed, bringing the total number of accidents to 381 Vaishnav also said that Kavach is being operated extensively on 10,000 engines and 15,000 kilometers.
Prime Minister Modi focused on security
Vaishnav said Prime Minister Modi focused on safety and brought in new technology and investment, and now it has dropped to 30 accidents and 43 train derailments, 90 per cent less than the earlier period and 80 per cent less than in 2014-15. He said that the Railways has not increased the fares since 2020 and since then the fares have been continuously increasing.
Vaishnav said, “If we compare with neighboring countries, the fare here is very low”. The fare is Rs 121 in India, Rs 436 in Pakistan, Rs 323 in Bangladesh and Rs 413 in Sri Lanka for a journey of 350 kilometers The minister said prices in European countries are more than five times higher.
Describing the budget for Railways as historic, Vaishnav said that the national transporter had to face a lot of difficulty during the Covid pandemic and now it is recovering from it and is in a healthy condition. He told that Railways is now meeting almost all its expenses from its income. The minister also detailed the steps taken by his ministry for crowd management, including running special trains during holidays.
He said, “Last year during Holi we ran 604 special trains, during last summer 13,000 special trains were run and during Diwali and Chhath 8,000 such trains were run”. 17,330 special trains were run during Mahakumbh and 1,160 special trains were run during Holi this year
Recalling the tragic stampede at New Delhi railway station last month, Vaishnav said several permanent steps were being taken, including building holding areas at 60 stations, installing CCTV cameras, building war rooms and footover bridges, etc.
He also said that India is among the top three loading countries and 1.6 billion tones of goods will be transported this year. Vaishnav also said that five lakh people have got employment in Railways and one lakh more people are being recruited. The Lok Sabha later passed the demands for grants under the control of the Ministry of Railways for 2025-26.
