Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that he had asked railway authorities to spend “whatever is necessary” to improve safety at stations, ANI reported. Goyal also said that additional escalators had been sanctioned for crowded stations in Mumbai.
Goyal chaired a meeting of senior railway officials on Saturday after 23 people died from injuries sustained during a stampede near the Elphinstone Road station in Mumbai. The minister added that the Railways would regard foot-over bridges not as an amenity but a necessity. He also announced that 200 officers from railway headquarters would be reassigned as field staff, to strengthen implementation of projects.
The other safety measures included giving the general managers of Railway Zones “powers without limit” for the next 18 months to make decisions regarding passenger safety. Officials were told to identify stations that needed escalators within the next 15 days.
It was also decided to install CCTV cameras in all suburban trains in the next 15 months. A press release said some of these decisions applied to stations across India too.
A decision was taken to resolve all pending issues with authorities like the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, City and Industrial Development Corporation and the state government within a week, News18 reported.
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