Southern Railway gets commercial and safety efficiency shields

CHENNAI: Southern Railway received overall commercial and safety efficiency shields at the 68th Railway Week Celebrations in New Delhi on Saturday.

Southern Railway general manager R N Singh received the award from railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Nine railway employees from the zone also received awards (Ati Vishisht Rail Seva Puraskar) for meritorious performance.

Speaking after giving away Ati Vishisht Rail Seva Puraskar to 100 railway employees from across the country, Vaishnaw said, “More electrification has been done in 9.5 years than in the past 40 years. The big picture behind this is when the PM merged the railways budget with the general budget in 2015, interest/ capital charge had to be paid on the rail grant and it removed all financial hindrances for the railways. Lack of investment, which was the biggest problem for railways, is now a thing of the past."

"Railway infrastructure is being developed at record speed and scale. Several new things are happening which are helping achieve a strategic goal,” he said.

Talking about the potential savings in logistics costs, he said, “Transportation, if done by road, involves higher costs along with fuel cost. As per an estimate, there will be 3,000 million tonne of new cargo. If railway gets half of it, then it will potentially save 16,000 crore litre of fuel. Rs 1,28,000 crore will be saved through this which will be a big achievement and saving for the nation.”