Railways looking at ways to speed up electrification process: Piyush Goyal

The Railway ministry is looking at ways to speed up the electrification process as it would help cut down Rs 16,000 crore expense on diesel, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

He said the ministry is consulting all the people who are involved in the electrification process.

The important things which are involved in the process include the availability of equipment and adequate infrastructure.

The Railway Minister said, "we are giving a relook to the ways of speeding up the electrification process" of rail lines across the country.

The move would help in cutting down the diesel expenses on Indian railways, which is about Rs 16,000 crore and improving operating ratio of Indian railways, the minister told reporters here.

"We can do a lot of savings in that," he said, adding that the cost on account of power is quite less.

Before the BJP-led government came to power, investments on safety-related things, track renewal and maintenance were not good and it had impacted the railways, he said.

On a question that in terms of investments, a lot of fund was tied up from LIC, he said, "You will see large drawdowns in the next few days".

Further Goyal, who also holds the coal portfolio, said that there is a continuous progress in the sector.

"Soon we want to start commercial mining," he said.