PM Narendra Modi to open 'Rail Vikas Shivir' on Friday

New Delhi: Making train journeys a pleasant experience and achieving near-zero fatalities on tracks are among a number of critical issues that will be up for discussion during the three-day Rail Vikas Shivir beginning tomorrow at Surajkund, which will open with an address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Modi will deliver the address through video conferencing from here and is expected to speak on the role of the railways sector for the country's economic growth, setting the agenda for the mega event.

The programme will seek to generate innovative yet practical ideas in the most crucial areas of rail operations and chart out a roadmap for substantial progress of the sector.

Making Indian Railways the preferred freight carrier in India, reducing the operational cost, improving non-tariff revenue and increasing the investment in rail infrastructure substantially are among the other issues to be taken up during the event.

It is a massive exercise being undertaken for the first time in railways which is organising the three-day camp involving all employees across the hierarchy, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project.

More than one lakh new crowdsourced ideas for improving railways were generated and examined by various teams, and all those selected ideas will be discussed in the event.

The venue at Surajkund has been divided into various areas named after iconic trains services like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Humsafar, Tejas, Gatimaan, Uday, Antyodaya and Jan Shatabdi.

The Prime Minister will be present personally again to have a detailed interaction with the participants on the concluding day of the Shivir and will give away prize money to the top three teams and top 15 crowdsourced ideas.