Railways Reforms & Governance Conclave 2018

Ever since Mr Piyush Goyal has assumed the office as the railway minister, he has been laying emphasis on improving safety and modernisation of the railways. Some of the key decisions Goyal has taken include priority given to safe running of trains without affecting punctuality, proposed electrification of entire Indian Railways network, 100 percent installation of LED lights across all stations, upgradation of passenger and goods trains’ speed, elimination of all unmanned level crossings and renewal of station redevelopment plan.

The minister seems to have brought a substantial change the way the railways works and intends to roll out amenities for passengers. According to a report of the Indian Railways, capital investments have gone up to Rs 1.21 lakh crore in 2016-17 from Rs 58,718 crore in 2014-15, which indicates the seriousness of the incumbent government in raising the investment for the national transporter.

The plans of improving safety got a boost after the union budget 2017-18 sanctioned Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (National Rail Safety Fund) of Rs 1 lakh crore. The laying of broad gauge tracks has also done at a rapid pace. The railways had commissioned 3,000 kms of broad gauge lines in 2016-17 compared to 1,983 kms in 2014-15. In this context, the railway has also decided to connect the entire north east region with broad gauge, a long awaited dream.

The 4th Railways Reforms & Governance Conclave 2018 aims at focusing on the futuristic projects of the Indian Railways to give a never-seen experience to rail users. As many of such billion dollar projects are being taken up by the railways, it will be interesting to see how it transforms itself in the next few years.

Key Discussion Pointers

The conclave is designed to have officials and experts from varied fields:

Governance Reforms in Railways
Attracting finance for Railways
Revitalizing Railways economy
Station redevelopment
PPP - projects
Long term finance in Railways
Communications & Connectivity Systems
Cashless payment system
Internet of Thingsv
Artificial Intelligence
Cyber security for Railways
Real time monitoring
Digitization of Railways
Modern signaling technology & telecom
Upgradation of infrastructure
Transforming railways through technology
Modern Trends in Rolling Stock
Security Surveillance: CCTVs, Luggage Scanner, Information display system and security gadgets manufacturers
Network Rail Telecom - Enabler of the Digital Railway
Key infra projects: Station redevelopment, DFC, Connectivity to North East states
Passenger safety
New strategies and policies to accelerate the railways’ growth
New passengers amenities
Business case for High Speed and semi high speed trains
Global partnerships for Railways