Railways to install lifts, escalators & develop stations: Suresh Prabhu

Govt also intends to install 30,000 bio-toilets this year against 25,000 introduced in last 2 years

Indian Railways plans to install 770 escalators and 620 lifts at railway stations across the country and redevelop some stations, the government said on Friday but did not fix a timeline for it.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said while the government intends to improve passenger amenities at all stations and redevelop them, "it will depend on the availability of resources".

When senior BJP member Jatyanarain Jatiya sought that a deadline be fixed for redevelopment of stations and putting up escalators and lifts, the Minister refused to set one saying everything would depend on the availability of funds to Railways.

Assuring that all stations will be fitted with modern amenities, the Minister said against 25,000 bio-toilets introduced in train coaches in the last two years, the Ministry intends to install 30,000 bio-toilets this year.

He said all railway stations and coaches will be made disabled-friendly as it is a very important issue.

To another supplementary on improving infrastructure in Mumbai's suburban railways which transports 75 lakh people every day, Prabhu said for the first time in the country's history, an amount of Rs 55,000 crore has been earmarked for the upgradation of infrastructure in the western megapolis alone.

This announcement was made in December last by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.