Railways (Amendment) Bill Passed Authorising Centre to Decide on Composition of Railway Board
NEW DELHI, Dec 11: The Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was passed on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha, despite disruptions, five months after it was introduced in the House.
All the provisions in the erstwhile colonial-era Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 are proposed to be incorporated in the Railways Act, 1989 through this Bill. It is intended to simplify the legal framework and reduces the need to refer to two laws.
The Bill also proposes to amend the Railways Act, 1989 to provide statutory backing to the Railway Board, which has functioned without such a sanction since it began functioning.
The statutory powers seek to enhance the functioning and independence of the Railway Board. The provisions added to the amended Bill authorise the Central government to decide the composition of the Railway Board. This includes the number of members, their terms of service, and their qualifications and experience.
The Bill also proposes to improve operational efficiencies and decentralise powers, granting greater autonomy to Railway Zones. Increasing autonomy has been a long-standing demand, supported by various committees, including 2014 Sreedharan Committee.
The Bill proposes to establish an independent regulator to oversee tariffs, safety, and the participation of the private sector in the Railways. Recommendations to have an independent regulator were earlier made in 2015 by the Committee on Restructuring Railways.
The amendment is expected to speed up the approval process for train services that will help meet pending demands from various regions. The Bill will allow the government to fast-track infrastructure and superfast train operations, for example, extending the Arunachal Express via the Siwan, Thawe, Kaptanganj, Gorakhpur route, which would especially benefit regions such as Bihar.
The Railways network was established as a branch of the Public Works Department before Independence. “When the network expanded, Indian Railways Act, 1890, was enacted to enable proper functioning of different railway entities,” Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated in the amendment.
Mr Vaishnaw further stated that the railway organisation was separated from the Public Works Department and the Railway Board Act was enacted in 1905. “A contemporary railway law, the Railways Act was enacted in 1989 by repealing the Indian Railways Act, 1890. However, the Railway Board continued to function through an executive decision without any statutory sanction,” he said.
“The current Bill proposes to simplify the legal framework by incorporating the proposals of the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 in the Railways Act, 1989. This will reduce the need to refer to two laws,” Mr Vaishnaw said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
