Passengers' safety Govt's top priority: Piyush Goyal

Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the safety of passengers is an utmost importance for the Railway Ministry.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Goyal said a lot of railway infrastructure upgradation work is underway, and some has already been completed to bring better facilities in the Railways sector.

He further said the government is working to solve issues like unmanned level crossings and track replacement/renewal.

"The mindset of people has changed towards the Railways during the tenure of the present government. Today, the Indian Railways is focusing on passenger safety and is putting its best foot forward to see how we can upgrade infrastructure to improvise and address the areas which affect the consumer directly. Track maintenance and creating additional tracks require blocking the infrastructure - which contributes to the train delays," the Minister said.

He also asserted that the government is investing in technology to ease up traveling.

"The Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches are being used to ensure the safety of passengers. We are also focusing on how to improve the productivity of our employers," he added.

LHB coaches are the new generation passenger type coaches of Indian Railways that have been developed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany.

The LHB coaches can travel at a higher speed. During collision or derailment, the LHB coaches do not climb on the adjacent coaches, due to the use of Center Buffer Couling (CBC), instead of the dual buffer system.

On being asked about Indian Railways' decision of charging penalty from the passengers for carrying excess luggage, Goyal said, "It is a step for passenger comfort. We are just trying to create awareness that there is an option too to book luggage van. There is a provision that one can put his/her extra luggage in the luggage van. Everybody should carry the right amount of luggage so that the extra luggage won't create any problem to the co-passengers."

Recently, the Railways announced that six-time penalty will be charged from the passengers for carrying excess luggage.