New Delhi: On Friday — just hours before three trains collided in Balasore, Odisha, killing at least 288 people and wounding 900 — the railway ministry concluded a two-day “chintan shivir”, or brainstorming session, on ways to improve the efficiency of the Indian Railways.
Among the topics discussed at this session was how to attain zero “consequential accidents” — that is, train accidents with serious repercussions, whether in the form of human casualties, loss of railway property or interruptions to rail traffic.
Since he was appointed minister of railways in July 2021, Ashwini Vaishnaw has frequently taken to Twitter to endorse the “modernisation” of the country’s railway network. A scroll through his Twitter feed shows that Vaishnaw has tweeted about the railways 165 times this year.
Of these, 121 posts hailed the upgradation of railway infrastructure and passenger amenities while the rest gave updates about various inaugurations and engaged social media users with “teaser” games.
Here’s a recap of Vaishnaw’s tweets since 1 January.
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Vande Bharat, thanking Modi
Vaishnaw has frequently taken to Twitter to credit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision or “people-centric governance model” for upgrading railway infrastructure and the launch of the Vande Bharat trains.
In at least eight of these tweets, he has directly thanked Modi. This includes an editorial he wrote praising Modi for “transforming ordinary people’s travel experience” through the railways — a sector that, according to him, was ignored for over 60 years before the Modi government came to power in 2014.
World-class railway stations for Odisha!
🚉 Puri
🚉 Cuttack
Thank You Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji. pic.twitter.com/dtS1edU14R
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) May 18, 2023
My ✍️ on India’s rise, gareeb kalyan and decisive leadership of PM @narendramodi Ji. https://t.co/Eb5Dn7sk4f
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) May 30, 2023
He has referred to the Vande Bharat trains as the “nation’s pride” or “nation’s vibe”, and retweeted positive passenger feedback and articles that praise the “superior passenger services” of these trains.
കൊച്ചു കൊച്ചു സന്തോഷങ്ങൾ
Vande Bharat vibe pic.twitter.com/eFsJOMVtpU
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) April 26, 2023
Vande Bharat delivers on superior passenger experience. pic.twitter.com/TB90jl5DPN
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) April 20, 2023
Electrification
Vaishnaw has also frequently tweeted about his government’s railway electrification projects and even shared artificial intelligence-generated models of what these redevelopment projects will look like.
In addition, he has shared videos of his government’s infrastructure projects — such as the Chenab bridge and the Anji Khad bridge in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the Pamban bridge in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
He called these bridges “marvels” in a post in April.
Our target is 100 % Electrification of broad gauge network by December 2023.
Great work 👍 @RailMinIndia https://t.co/z4jYuBiG6Y pic.twitter.com/WKoVhTfyID
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) March 3, 2023
धामपुर रेलवे स्टेशन #UttarPradesh का नवीनीकरण।
Work started from today.#NayeBharatKaNayaStation pic.twitter.com/0IEoGGTFFn
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) March 4, 2023
Marvels of #IndianRailways towards completion! pic.twitter.com/V9JLsPrNWE
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) May 9, 2023
Besides these, Vaishnaw has tweeted theatrical-looking teasers of Vande Bharat — such as the one between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod in Kerala — and has also tweeted partial views of railway stations being redeveloped, asking users to guess which project it was.
Coming Soon!
Our own Vande Bharat… in God’s own country. pic.twitter.com/tIm4xO9am0
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) April 23, 2023
सतरंगी रे!
Guess this station⁉️ pic.twitter.com/b0yy3MDzED
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) February 23, 2023
Also among his other tweets were the railway infrastructure projects he inspected and the ongoing work on Kavach, India’s indigenous anti-collision technology that’s meant to prevent railway accidents of the kind that took place in Balasore.
Inspected the new upgraded toilet designs for existing coaches. pic.twitter.com/2v426YZiEy
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 31, 2023
From Paper to Pixels!#IndianRailways pic.twitter.com/cTBgq1va9V
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) May 20, 2023
World’s first semi-high speed passenger train with high-rise pantograph.
Thank You PM @narendramodi Ji, for flagging off Ajmer- Delhi Vande Bharat Express. pic.twitter.com/KpjqWx1xd7
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) April 12, 2023
This is an updated version of the story.
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