Hormuz a 'battlefield', but our growth didn't stall: PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India’s near-complete railway electrification has helped shield the economy from disruptions caused by the war in West Asia, where the “indispensable” maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz — a vital artery for supplies of fuel and fertilisers — has remained a “battlefield” for months.

 

This resilience reflects the “massive transformation” of the Railways over the past 12 years, he said, adding that despite the oil supply crisis, train

 

services remained uninterrupted and “the country’s development did not come to a standstill”. Addressing a gathering in Haryana’s Jind, he said limited railway electrification before 2014 risked services coming to halt during a global fuel crisis. 

 

Modi said that had a similar global fuel crisis occurred before 2014, when only about 30 per cent of the railway network was electrified, India’s heavy reliance on diesel would have brought rail operations to a halt.

 

Nearly 99 per cent of the national rail network and all railway tracks in Haryana have now been electrified, he noted, adding, “Because of complete electrification, our trains continued to run without interruption despite the severe global oil crisis.”

 

The Prime Minister was speaking after launching development projects worth about ₹14,700 crore in Haryana, including the country’s first hydrogen-powered train.

 

Modi said hydrogen train technology entered practical use globally only seven to eight years ago and remains operational in only a handful of countries, largely on a pilot basis. India, by contrast, has successfully run a hydrogen-powered train with 10 coaches in its first attempt, compared with the three to four coaches typically seen elsewhere, he further said.

 

The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Haryana section of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, the Jind-Gohana National Highway and the Ambala-Kala Amb four-lane highway project.

 

Referring to the conflict in West Asia, Modi said the Strait of Hormuz had remained engulfed in crisis for the past three to four months. “For the past several months, war has been going on in West Asia. It is through the Hormuz sea route that India receives a huge quantity of petrol, diesel, LPG and fertilisers for our farmers. But for the last three to four months, this route has continuously remained a battlefield, surrounded by crisis,” the Prime Minister said.

 

Modi underscored that India’s railway operations remained unaffected despite the disruption. “Despite the war and the resulting oil supply crisis, India’s railways did not come to a halt. The country’s development did not come to a standstill. Trains continued to run without interruption,” he added.