Vaishnaw announces 8 reforms to boost freight revenues, skill upgradation, land acquisition tracking

New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday announced eight reforms to boost freight services, skill upgradation, the construction ecosystem, and web-based tracking of the land acquisition process, among others. These reforms are part of the ministry's target to implement 52 reforms in 52 weeks to enhance efficiency, promote innovation and strengthen the railway ecosystem, officials said. "With these eight reforms, the total number of reforms implemented under the initiative '52 Reforms in 52 Weeks' in 2026 has reached 17. The new reforms will bring significant changes in freight transportation, logistics, construction practices, project execution, wagon design, skilling, and ease of doing business," they said. Addressing mediapersons, Vaishnaw said the Railways had undertaken both structural and procedural reforms. "While the procedural reforms are internal, the structural reforms, which are significant, are being brought into the public domain," he added. Of the eight reforms, three relate to the transportation of fly ash, petroleum products, and food grains, flour and pulses. Besides fulfilling environmental commitments and boosting revenue, these reforms also address multiple logistics challenges, officials stated. At present, fly ash is transported mainly in open wagons, which not only pollute the atmosphere but also pose several handling and loading-unloading challenges. Vaishnaw said that to address these issues, Indian Railways has introduced a new containerised transportation system for fly ash, which can be loaded directly from the power plant through top-loading arrangements and unloaded using side-discharge or pneumatic systems without generating dust pollution. Talking about the reform in transportation of fertilisers through containers, he said that unlike the earlier system, where an entire rake remained detained until complete unloading at a single destination, individual containers can now be unloaded and stored at rake points according to demand. Highlighting reforms for the transportation of petroleum products, he stated that oil companies will now be able to procure specialised wagons directly or lease them through leasing agencies and induct them on the Indian Railways network for specialised requirements. The minister said the reform will enable the introduction of specialised tank wagons, improve logistics planning, reduce transportation costs, promote greater movement of petroleum products through rail and minimise risks associated with road transportation, including product losses and adulteration. Regarding reforms in foodgrains, flour and pulses transportation, Vaishnaw said that under the new policy, the earlier complex slab-based freight structure has been replaced with a simplified per tonne per kilometre rate structure. "The reform permits transportation of foodgrains, flour and pulses through containers, enabling easier handling, flexible storage and phased distribution based on operational requirements," he said. He also introduced reforms in the Container Sector, stating that under the new framework, operators will be able to run container trains across the entire Indian Railways network without category-based restrictions. "The registration system has also been simplified through a uniform non-refundable registration fee of Rs 25 crore applicable across all routes," he added. One of the reforms involved a policy for skilling artisans in railway projects, as railway infrastructure projects involving safety-sensitive operations require specialised skills, precision engineering and adherence to strict quality standards. "Under the new framework, project-specific skill requirements will be defined, and workers will undergo practical and oral assessments through designated testing authorities. Successful candidates will receive QR code-enabled skill certificates linked to a live verification database," Vaishnaw said. Highlighting another major structural reform, Vaishnaw announced a new policy for wagon design approval to promote innovation and enable industry participation in designing specialised freight wagons. Vaishnaw said that following the success of the contractor qualification reforms introduced earlier this year, Indian Railways has now undertaken another major set of reforms to strengthen the construction ecosystem and improve project execution. The Union minister said the reforms are aimed at encouraging serious and capable contractors, improving the quality of construction, reducing disputes and ensuring the timely completion of railway infrastructure projects. PTI JP JP RUK RUK