Safer, cleaner and smarter railway is our agenda for the future: Piyush Goyal

" Safer railway, cleaner railway and smarter railway are the three things that we will never compromise in the future for Railways” said Piyush Goyal at Moneylife Foundation's 8th Anniversary in Mumbai. He was speaking on ’How Transforming the Railways Can Boost our Economy’ at the convention hall of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Saturday afternoon. Emphasizing on asset monetisation, he said that he would be satisfied with any amount of capital allocation to the transport behemoth in the upcoming budget. The minister said his government is planning to change some of the existing guidelines on monetising land and station assets as well as contemplating on extending the lease period from 45 years to 99 years, among others. Speaking about bullet trains, he said that when “Rajdhani” was first introduced in India, people were still sceptical about how is it going to add value to the Indian Railways. Some of the new improvement that took place in railway systems, the Minister said, now the Railway Board compulsorily meets once a week to discuss and advise on various ideas and steps to improve our railways. This is better than the meetings that were not frequent. Mr Goyal reiterated that the Government is making Indian Railways one of the safest and most modern mode of transport in the country, and introducing faster and comfortable passenger trains for a better travel experience. Railway activist Samir Zaveri presented a "Memorandum on Improving Mumbai Suburban Rail Network" prepared by Samir, Ajit Shenoy, Shirish Shanbhag, Sumaira Abdulali and Moneylife Foundation to Mr Goyal. Talking to Realty Plus, at the sidelines of the event, he said, “ Women’s safety in Railways is our major concern and we are brainstorming and coming up with unique ideas where they can feel 100 per cent secure while travelling in trains.” He also said that bhajan mandalis who play songs in trains would not be banned even if they create the so called “noise pollution”.