No hike in rail fares in name of revamp: Railways Minister

There has been no hike in fares in the name of the station redevelopment project, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Sunday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the revamp of 508 stations across the country.
Vaishnaw said about Rs 25,000 crore needed for the redevelopment project will be allocated through the current Budget, asserting that the project is aimed at facilitating seamless travel for passengers across all strata of society. “PM Modi is working to elevate the lives of the common people. The aim of station redevelopment is the same. We want them to have world-class stations without any burden. We have not increased fares or fixed a fee in the name of station redevelopment,” said Vaishnaw at a press conference here.
The Railways have envisaged a plan to redevelop almost 1,300 prime stations in the country as ‘Amrit Bharat Stations’. On Sunday, Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone for 508 Amrit Bharat Stations. In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, 55 such stations will be developed at a cost of about Rs 4,000 crore each, 34 stations in Madhya Pradesh at approx. Rs 1,000 crore, and 44 in Maharashtra at Rs 1,500 crore. Besides, several railway stations in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala, among others, will be redeveloped.
Vaishnaw said that the Railways is training around 9,000 engineers to be part of the station redevelopment project to keep them abreast of the nitty-gritty of the project, which includes analysis of contract documents, architecture, design, and safety. “There has been no discrimination against any state for this project. Over the next two years, we will be able to see substantial progress in the work. We believe in equitable development. Modiji has always said that we will lay the foundation stone of the project and we will inaugurate it too, explaining the speed at which we need to complete the project,” he said. Answering a question on long-pending projects like the Sabarimala Rail in Kerala, the railways minister said it was a special case as the state government has ‘very little interest’ in development. “The Kerala government does not have that much interest in the development of the state. That is why even for small things like a survey or preparing a detailed project report, we find so much resistance that it’s really difficult to do any work. Even then, the centre is committed to the development of the rail network in Kerala.