Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnab participated in the program of Budget Aaj Tak 2023 and talked about all the schemes of Railways. Ashwini Vaishnav said that railway work has increased in the last eight years. When Narendra Modi’s government was formed, he doubled the railway budget. Apart from this, Ashwini Vaishnav informed about the government’s plans from bullet train project to jobs.
When will the first bullet train run?
Bullet train project Vaishnav said, bullet train project is very complex. However, the design work has been completed and the construction of pillars is in progress. Currently civil construction is going on and tender process for trains and other items will start soon. The railway minister said the government plans to run the country’s first bullet train in August 2026.
Regarding the cattle clash in India, he said that the railway line is being fenced to avoid such accidents. Regarding railway jobs, Ashwini Vaishnav said that 3 lakh 75 thousand jobs have been given in eight years. Apart from this, one lakh 45 thousand jobs are going on.
Infrastructure development
He said the work was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. He said there was a lack of investment in railways for many years. Because of this, the infrastructure has not increased as much as it should have. He said, this time the budget of Tk 2 lakh 41 thousand crore has come to Railways. This will go a long way in addressing the investment deficit, infrastructural deficit in railways.
Such is the view of the Prime Minister
He said, train timing has improved a lot. In eight years, 34 thousand kilometers of railway lines have been electrified. Ashwini Vaishnav also narrated an anecdote related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said, we approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the design of 50 stations. The presentation lasted for about two and a half hours. After that we thought it was a very good presentation. Very nicely designed. But the Prime Minister did not approve it at all.
We are back. Then around 11pm he got a call and said that the station layouts are fine for today. But you think ahead 50 years… how the city will develop… what the city needs. How will the two parts of the city connect to each other? Design with everything in mind. Such is the view of the Prime Minister.