LS takes up Railways (Amendment) Bill to grant statutory powers to Railway Board

The Lok Sabha today took up the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024 for consideration and passing. The Bill seeks to grant statutory powers to the Railway Board and enhance the functioning and independence of the body.
It repeals the Indian Railway Board Act 1905 and incorporates provisions related to the Railway Board into the Railways Act, 1989. This will simplify the legal framework and reduce the need to refer to two laws.
Moving the Bill, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, the bill is intended to bring more efficiency to the Railways sector. He said, in the last ten years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been significant development and transformative changes in the Indian Railways. Mr Vaishnaw said, 10 years ago, the budget of Railways was around 29 thousand crore rupees and now it is two lakh 52 thousand crore rupees. He said 44 thousand kilometres of railway networks were electrified in the past 10 years.
Speaking on the Bill, Manoj Kumar of Congress expressed apprehensions that the bill will open up railways to privatisation. He also raised the issue of high ticket fares on Vande Bharat trains.
Ravi Kishan of the BJP highlighted the achievements of Railways under the Modi government. He said the corruption-ridden image of Railways has been reformed since 2014.
Neeraj Maurya of Samajwadi Party appealed to the government to keep Railways away from privatisation. He opined that the Railway Board should be able to make decisions independently.
Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Ganpat Sawant expressed concern about encroachment on land owned by Railways.
Supriya Sule of NCP (SP), Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM, Francis George of KCM, Rajkumar Roat of BAP, and Ravindra Waikar of Shiv Sena also participated in the discussion.  
The discussion remained inconclusive.