Foot over bridges mandatory, surveillance to be stepped up

NEW DELHI (INDIA): A high-level meeting on Railways Safety was held in Mumbai today, under the chairmanship of Minister of Railways,Piyush Goyal to comprehensively review Safety measures in Mumbai Suburban Railways as well as entire Indian Railways. This meeting was held at WR headquarter?s at Churchgate on 30th September,2017.nnVarious major decisions were taken in the meeting, wherein passenger safety has been accorded the highest priority. Accordingly, several important decisions were taken to empower Railway officers to take strong measures to improve passenger safety and security. Some of the points are outlined herewith :nn? Foot Over Bridges (FOBs), platforms and pathways on platform end to be treated as Safety items having highest priority with no restriction of budget. Earlier only the first FOB at a station was considered as essential and subsequent as passenger amenity.nn? For next 18 months, General Managers of Railway zones have been delegated powers without limit for Safety related issues. They shall intimate Financial Commissioner (FC) within a week of sanction for provision, and FC shall confirm the same within 15 days. In case of disagreement, the matter shall be put up to the Railway Board for final decision within the same 15 days.nn? Additional Escalators sanctioned at stations of the Mumbai Suburban system having high footfall with the details to be finalised within 15 days. Similar exercise will be carried out for all high use stations all over India.nn? 200 officers to be relocated from Head Quarters as in field to strengthen ground operations and project implementation.nn? Brilliant & enthusiastic Station Directors are being posted at 75 stations all over India to bring dynamism in operations.nn? Within the next 15 months, CCTV cameras will be installed in all suburban trains in Mumbai with monitoring mechanism. This shall be done in parallel across India as well.nn? Delegation of financial & administration powers to field units by October 2017 to reduce red tape and push development & delivery.nnThese steps will lead to improvement in the functioning and operations of railways to ensure improvement in the standards of safety.nnAshwani Lohani – Chairman, Railway Board and all railway board members were present in this meeting along with A. K. Gupta-General Manager of Western Railway and D. K. Sharma-General Manager of Central Railway and security officials of the state government.