New Delhi: Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said there has been a significant drop in the rate of cattle run-over incidents involving the Vande Bharat Express trains and the routes that have the newly designed fencing have practically seen zero such cases.
He was responding to a question raised by Samajwadi Party (SP) member of Parliament (MP) Awadhesh Prasad in the Lok Sabha, which also saw SP president Akhilesh Yadav taking a jab at the railway minister over the issue.
“As we have at-grade crossings in the country, cattle often end up on the railway tracks, which is a major problem. To address this issue, we have started fencing work using a new design,” the minister said.
To date, the work of installing the newly designed fencing has been completed along 900 km. “Routes that now have the newly designed fencing have practically seen zero cattle run-over cases. There has been a significant drop in the rate of cattle run-over incidents,” Vaishnaw added.
He also mentioned that the Railways aims to install the newly designed fencing on other routes as well.
{{/usCountry}}He also mentioned that the Railways aims to install the newly designed fencing on other routes as well.
{{/usCountry}}SP president Akhilesh Yadav took a jab at the minister while his party MP was raising the issue in the House.
Yadav, even before Prasad could ask his question, told Speaker Om Birla that the minister would not be able to respond to Prasad’s questions.
Prasad, in his question, first thanked the minister for starting the Vande Bharat Express service to and from Ayodhya and Lucknow and then asked him to explain the frequent cattle run-over accidents. He said, “I want to thank the Railways minister for commencing the Vande Bharat Express trains from Ayodhya and Lucknow, but at the same time, these trains have collided with cattle two or three times.”
Yadav interrupted and asked Prasad to seek a response from Vaishnaw on how many times had the Vande Bharat Express been involved in cattle run-over accidents.
Prasad then continued, “I would request the minister to help me understand the solution to this problem and also clarify how many times these cattle run-over accidents have taken place.”
Yadav again interrupted and said, “Why is the train facing this issue in Etawah repeatedly?”
Vaishnaw then responded, stating that Prasad had raised a crucial matter related to safety, and he would like to give a detailed response in this regard. He, however, began by replying to Yadav and said, “There is no need for honourable MP Akhileshji to comment.”