NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the demands for grants for railways and returned the Appropriation (Railways) Bill 2005 by a voice vote, in the absence of the Opposition.

The Lok Sabha passed the Bill providing for the withdrawal of Rs. 91,237.5 crores from the consolidated fund for Railway expenditure during the year last week.

Reading out his reply to the discussion on the Bill from a prepared text, the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, assured the House that steps were being taken to ensure safety and security to bring down rail accidents. From now on, Zonal General Managers would be held accountable for any train accident, he said.

Safety campaign

The Railways would launch a special 15-day campaign at the divisional railway manager level to alert them on the safety aspects and remove possible shortcomings in the system.

Referring to the recent accident of the Sabarmati Express near Vadodara, Mr. Prasad said the Railways was moving towards the use of the latest technology to avoid accidents caused by human error. In this case, action would be taken after the inquiry report was received, he said. Mr. Lalu Prasad said that 2004-05 had witnessed the lowest number of train accidents. Steps were being taken to upgrade technology.

"Anti-collision instruments would be installed on all long-distance trains in the next four to five years and staff would be trained," he said.

Freight corridor

A blueprint to build a dedicated freight corridor along the Golden Quadrilateral of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata would be prepared soon, he said. Mr. Lalu Prasad announced that the Darbangha-Delhi Sampark Kranti train would be converted into a super fast train.

The Railways had carried 602 million tonnes of freight in 2004-05, 45 million tonnes or 8 per cent more than the previous year.

He said the suggestions of the Standing Committee, the Railway Convention Committee and the Khanna Committee on rolling stock, modernisation, conversion of gauge, use of information technology and raising internal resources were under active consideration and at various stages of implementation.

Earlier, the members drew the attention of Mr. Prasad to the lack of facilitates on certain trains and platforms. They demanded that safety should be given the high priority and that "human error" should not go unpunished.

However, when he did not respond to individual suggestions and demands from the MPs, Manoj Bhattacharya (Revolutionary Socialist Party) sought a reply.

To this, Mr. Prasad said he would look into all the demands but would not give assurances on the floor of the House, to avoid any "privilege motion" against him.

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