During a heated parliamentary session on Thursday, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw responded to the opposition’s slogans of “Ashwini Vaishnaw hay hay” by asserting that they are not people who make reels but people who work hard. He pointed out that the average working and rest times of Loco pilots are governed by rules established in 2005, which were amended in 2016 to provide more facilities for Loco pilots.
Vaishnaw highlighted that all 558 running rooms were made air-conditioned and that more than 7,000 loco cabs were also air-conditioned to address issues of vibration and heat, contrasting it with the opposition’s time when none of these measures were in place.
Further speaking in Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw questioned why those who had been in power for 58 years had not managed to install Automatic Train Protection (ATP) even for one kilometer.
He pointed out that today, these same individuals dare to raise questions. Vaishnaw mentioned that when Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister and reported a decrease in accident numbers from 0.24 to 0.19, the House applauded. However, now that the accident rate has decreased further from 0.19 to 0.03, the same people are making accusations.
He questioned if the country would run in this manner. Vaishnaw also accused the Congress of spreading false information with the help of its social media troll army, suggesting they were trying to instill fear in the 2 crore people who travel by railways every day.
#WATCH | While speaking in Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw says, "Those who are shouting here must be asked in their 58 years of being in power why they were not able to install Automatic Train Protection (ATP), even 1 km. Today, they dare to raise the… pic.twitter.com/1f66YxBspV
— ANI (@ANI) August 1, 2024
While speaking in Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the current ratio of non-AC (sleep and general coaches) to AC coaches is two-thirds to one-third, a composition that has always existed. He noted the increasing demand for general coaches and mentioned that the production of approximately 2,500 general coaches would be completed soon. Vaishnaw assured that a standard composition of at least four general coaches in each mail and express train would be implemented shortly.
#WATCH | While speaking in Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw says, "If we see the ratio of non-AC (sleep and general coaches) and AC coaches – two-thirds are non-AC and one-thirds are AC coaches, this composition of a train has always been there. The demand… pic.twitter.com/N8cDhjSXKF
— ANI (@ANI) August 1, 2024
He thanked Prime Minister Modi for his leadership and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for tackling the issue of underinvestment in the railways through substantial budget funding. Vaishnaw also praised the commitment of the 12 lakh railway employees who operate over 20,000 trains each day.