Mahatma Gandhi images to feature on train locomotives soon

New Delhi: Indian Railways has elaborate plans for October 2, to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. While the Railways has also already announced to junk single-use plastic on its trains from October 2, the central railway has decided to feature pictures of Mahatma Gandhi on its locomotives.

The work to paint the locomotives started about two months back and already 15 of them have been completed while work on seven more is on. Already, some of the locomotives are running on the Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Konkan routes. Central Railway officials said that the locomotives are being painted in the locosheds.

During a meeting with the general managers and divisional railway managers of zonal railways through video conferencing on Thursday, minister of state of railway Suresh C. Angadi, directed all zones and divisions to complete preparations with regard to 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi in time.

“Various initiatives being taken in this direction include elimination of single use plastic from railway premises, provision of bottle crushing machines, cleanliness of stations, trains and railway premises, tree plantation and development of 150 track side nurseries,” Railway officials said.

On Wednesday, the railways had circulated the guidelines with regard to plastic waste management. Railways has already decided to replace its plastic cutlery with more environment-friendly products.

Meanwhile, during the meeting the minister also reviewed safety, punctuality, freight loading, passenger traffic, infrastructure projects, locomotive and coach production and other ongoing developmental projects of the Railways.

Chairman Railway Board, Mr Vinod Kumar Yadav directed the GMs to closely monitor projects related to safety in train operations and emphasized on expeditious completion of safety works like elimination of Manned Level crossings and construction of Road over Bridge (RoBs), Road Under Bridges (RuBs), interlocking of heavy Manned level Crossings, elimination of old mechanical signalling by electronic.