UNI
London, Jun 24 : Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is here on a two-week visit to the UK and Europe to study railway systems.
Accompanied by Union Company Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta and Minister of State for Railways R Velu, Prasad met NRIs and journalists at the Indian High Commission last evening, and asked them to invest in the sector.
On Saturday he was to visit London's Marylebone station to see the working of railways here. ''We will go and see how the system works here.'' He will also be meeting London Mayor Ken Livingston and his team of officials will hold discussions with London Underground officials later in the day.
Pointing out the Rs 13,000 crore profit of the Indian Railways this year, Prasad said that they were aiming at Rs 20,000 crore next year.
Regarding the problems of the Indian railways, he said ''traffic congestion is very high. Our population is a problem. Over a crore people travel in trains everyday.'' Accepting globalisation of markets, he said ''we are inviting public partnership.'' Mr Prasad said Indian railways is starting double container service, for which public partnership was invited. ''We have given all the 14 companies licences,'' he added.
A dedicated freight corridor will also be introduced. In the first phase, with a budget of Rs 2,50000 crore, corridors will be built between Delhi and Mumbai and Delhi and Kolkata, for which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation later this year.
In the second phase the corridors will be built between Mumbai and Chennai and Chennai and Howrah, he said.
Prasad said he heard stations are very clean in Britain and trains run fast. ''We will this study this,'' he added.
The minister said ''we are giving Senegal engines. And experts from Indian Railway will go to there and train their staff on maintenance of the engines.'' He also informed that from October 2 this year, four fully air-conditioned trains the 'Garib Raths', the ''Garib Raths'', will start running.
Asked about the state of railway hospitals, Prasad said ''Private hospitals have better facilities as compared to government hospitals. Good doctors get engaged in private hospitals. This is a problem in front of us. We have to compete now with private hospitals.'' Talking about increasing rail facility in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said rail tracks are being laid in Katra and Baramullah. He said, 'khadi' pillow covers and sheets are being introduced in trains, which will in turn provide employment to small industries.
Maintaining ''safety is our priority and no compromise will be made on that,'' Prasad said there are 35,000 unmanned gates.
''We have decided to man them. We are introducing anti-collision devices too,'' he added.
On Monday, the minister will leave for Paris by Eurostar, which he described as ''the train that travels under water.'' He will also travel to Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, mostly by train to study various railway systems.
Prasad who is travelling with his son, has reportedly carried enough packed food like 'sattu' to suffice for the fortnight. His cook is also travelling with him, as he does not like hotel food.