{"id":33720,"date":"2024-12-14T19:12:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T13:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=33720"},"modified":"2024-12-14T19:12:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T13:42:47","slug":"lok-sabha-passes-railways-amendment-bill-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/14-12-2024\/lok-sabha-passes-railways-amendment-bill-2024","title":{"rendered":"Lok Sabha Passes Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Lok Sabha passed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/09-12-2024\/railways-amendment-bill-2024\">Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Objectives of the Bill<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Simplification of Legal Framework: <\/strong>Merges the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905, with the Railways Act, 1989.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Statutory Backing to Railway Board:<\/strong> It amends the Railways Act, 1989, to provide legal sanction to the Railway Board.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The statutory powers seek to enhance the functioning and independence of the Railway Board.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Decentralisation of Powers:<\/strong> Grants greater autonomy to railway zones to manage budgets, infrastructure, and recruitment independently.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Establishment of an Independent Regulator: <\/strong>Introduces an autonomous body to regulate tariffs, ensure safety, and facilitate private sector participation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Railway Sector\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India has one of the <strong>world\u2019s largest rail networks<\/strong> in terms of passenger traffic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India has the <strong>4th largest railway system<\/strong> in the world, behind only the <strong>US, Russia and China.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Indian Railways consists of a total track length of<strong> 126,366 km<\/strong> with 7,335 stations.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>5100 km <\/strong>of track length was achieved during <strong>2023-24.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges in Railway Sector\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Aging Infrastructure:<\/strong> Much of the railway infrastructure, including tracks, stations, and signaling systems, is outdated and prone to accidents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Financial Sustainability: <\/strong>Indian Railways suffers from high operational costs and declining freight revenues, leading to financial stress.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Safety Concerns:<\/strong> Despite improvements, railway accidents due to human error, derailments, and collisions remain a major challenge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Capacity Constraints: <\/strong>Overcrowding and delays are frequent on high-density routes, impacting passenger satisfaction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Private Participation: <\/strong>Limited participation of private players restricts investment and technological advancements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Focus on Modernisation:<\/strong> Accelerate the adoption of technological upgrades, such as AI-enabled monitoring systems, high-speed trains, and automated signaling.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Financial Restructuring: <\/strong>Address cross-subsidisation issues and diversify revenue streams through freight corridors, tourism trains, and commercialisation of assets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Public-Private Partnership (PPP):<\/strong> Develop a conducive policy framework to attract private investments in infrastructure development, rolling stock, and operations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Capacity Expansion: <\/strong>Enhance capacity on high-density routes and develop dedicated freight corridors to meet rising demands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is a landmark reform aimed at transforming the Indian Railways into a modern, efficient, and competitive transport system.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By addressing challenges related to governance, safety, and private participation, the Bill aligns with the government\u2019s vision of achieving a sustainable and future-ready railway sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/amid-disruptions-railways-amendment-bill-passed-in-the-lok-sabha\/article68972857.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Lok Sabha passed the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33724,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33720\/revisions\/33724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}