Railway Minister Prabhu unhappy over train delays

New Delhi: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is concerned about train delays and sees this as a "challenge".

Prabhu while replying to a debate on the Appropriation Bill in Lok Sabha pointed out the problem of delays and the routes most affected by it.

"Train delays are still a challenge, and I am not happy with the current situation" he said.

Prabhu particularly highlighted that the section between Delhi and Kolkata was facing the problem of delays and said "the trains crossing Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were missing deadlines as this route was running much over its capacity. The solution to this problem is augmentation of railway capacity so that punctuality could be maintained," he said.

Highlighting that the operating ratio for 2014-15 was the highest in the last seven years, the minister said that Railways was undertaking cleanliness drive in a big way.

Railway has roped in NGOs and other agencies to promote sanitation, he said, adding that there was also a plan to harness the support of religious leaders to create awareness about cleanliness.

According to Prabhu, as many as 79 items announced in the last Railway Budget in February have already been implemented. Railways is improving, but it just a beginning and there is a "long way to go", the Minister said as he responded to issues and concerns raised by members in the House which was boycotted by Congress and nine other parties.

Talking about the ambitious bullet train project that is estimated to cost over Rs 1 lakh crore, he said various options are being looked at while asserting that it will not be implemented at the cost of services to common man. "It (proposed bullet trains) will not at the expenses of services to common man...," he said in an apparent response to criticism from some quarters that the government is planning bullet trains while not doing much to help the common people.