New Delhi [India] October 16 (ANI): Minister of State for Railways, Ravneet Singh Bittu, on Thursday highlighted the Centre's efforts to augment the exports of railway machinery

Speaking with ANI, the MoS said that all firms and railway PSUs are being asked to participate both within and outside the country and submit tenders.

'We are preparing for exports. Why shouldn't our machinery be exported? It will only benefit us by bringing in foreign currency. All firms and railway PSUs are being asked to participate within and outside the country and bring in tenders,' he told ANI on the status of exports of railway machinery and Vande Bharat trains.

He addressed the media after taking stock of the 16th International Railway Equipment Exhibition in New Delhi.

'Our railway wagons and coaches are already being exported to many countries,' he said, adding that the railway industry already has big export orders.

Regarding the modernisation of platforms under the PPP model, the minister stated that highways had previously adopted the PPP model, but railways had not.

'Now, we are opening up for the railway also. Railway stations are being developed from Rs 20 crore to 3000 crore,' he said.

The department has improved everywhere from catering to the technique, he said. In the Cabinet meetings, funds of a minimum of Rs 10,000 crore for the railways have been allocated frequently.

'So a lot of work is being done under the PPP model in the modernisation of railway platforms,' he said.

Regarding the Kavach, he stated that, in addition to Kavach 4.0, work is also underway on Kavach 5.0.

'Safety is paramount in railways and that's the vision of the government also. When we are planning to increase the speed of the trains, we have to focus on the safety equally,' the minister said. The aim is to implement Kavach at the Zonal level also.

Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system for Indian Railways designed to prevent accidents caused by human error and overspeeding. It acts as a safety layer by automatically applying brakes in case a loco pilot fails to do so and provides real-time signalling information on the dashboard, especially useful in fog. The system is being implemented in a phased manner across the network, with ongoing deployment on key corridors, such as Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah.

'The ministry is putting in full efforts in this regard to speed up the work of Kavach. Earlier, there were a couple of companies working in this direction, and now many other companies are joining in,' he added.

The goal of running a bullet train remains in place. Japan's Minister recently visited India and stated that Japanese engineers have learnt a great deal from the bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

'There were some land issues in Maharashtra. But you will see running of bullet trains in some parts by 2027,' he added. (ANI)