New Delhi, Oct 15(UNI) Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Tuesday flagged off nine 'Sewa Service' trains of short distance, including one from New Delhi to Shamli that will help passengers in providing last mile connectivity.
Simultaneously trains from Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Tumkaru, Pollachi, Salem, Asarva, Mahesana, Murkongselek were flagged-off via video-conferencing.
Before flagging-off, Mr Goyal said, 'It is matter of pride to be part of this programme during my tenure as Railway Minister. Amid demand from everyone that trains should reach their native place, we thought of starting ten 'Sewa Service' trains.'
'Trains after reaching there final destinations, keep standing. So there used to be underutilisation of trains during that period. We thought of making good that layover time of trains,' the Minister added while telling about how the idea of starting 'Sewa Service' arise.
Mr Goyal said thinking on such lines these ten trains (out of which nine were flagged off) are set to cover eight states without any additional expenditure or investment. Only with existing rolling stock this initiative has been started and in this manner the English phrase of 'Swetting of asset' holds true here.
'By linking Vadnagar to Mehsana, Railways has given a small gift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Modi's vision will have significant place in Indian Railways.'
He thanked Mr Modi for helping in making Railways world class.
Putting impetus on cleanliness, Mr Goyal said,'Our stations are now more cleaner, moreover because of bio toilets our tracks remain clean now as compared to earlier times.
He also remembered former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam on his birth anniversary and said Dr Kalam used to schedule his work after listening to the whistle of train on the station.
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