Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry, urges the Industry leaders to collaborate with Indian Railways in the journey of transformation

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has organised the second edition of Rail Connect today i.e.on 8 September 2020 on the virtual platform. The conference focused on the future plans of the Indian Railways, indigenous manufacturing, and Ease of doing business for the railway industry in India and deliberate upon the emerging opportunities for private industry in Rail Transportation sector covering public private partnership, technology, urban mobility, station development, locomotive modernization, rail freight, communication technology and the safety, health and sustainability standards of the railway system. The event witnessed the participation of Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman & CEO, Railway Board, Shri Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII and industry leaders.

Addressing the inaugural session of the event, Shri Goyal said, “Indian Railways is rightly referred as the growth engine of the country by Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. His vision is to make Indian Railways a strong entity which serves customers with modern technology and good service experience while maintaining the romanticism associated with Railways. There has been a transformation of Railways. During COVID phase, Indian Railways utilised the opportunity for removing bottlenecks, maintenance, running Shramik trains, bring back freight share, reinvigorating processes, making policy changes, engaging with private sector, technology providers, improving infrastructure.” The Minister also stated that Indian Railways is pacing towards becoming Net Zero Carbon Emitter. He urged the industry leaders to collaborate and partner with Indian Railways to provide cost effective solutions in logistics sector and reducing logistic costs. He also stressed that Aatmanirbhar Railways depends on the participation of both, Railways and Industry.

Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board in his address talked about various steps taken by Indian Railways in the direction of modernisation, self reliance and green Railways. He outlined the plan for Indian Railways transformation and expressed that Indian Railways is open for collaborations and partnerships with the industry.

During the conference, various industry leaders appreciated the important role played by Railways during lockdown period and also the discernible changes in Railways.