Ashwini Vaishnaw introduces Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in Lok Sabha

New Delhi [India], August 9 (ANI): Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday introduced the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in Lok Sabha.

The bill aims to amend the Railways Act of 1989 to enhance the powers of the Railways Board and improve operational efficiency.

Key provisions of the bill include the integration of the Indian Railway Board Act, of 1905 into the Railways Act, of 1989.

This move seeks to simplify the legal framework governing Indian Railways by repealing the Indian Railway Board Act, of 1905 and incorporating its provisions into the Railways Act.

The changes are intended to streamline the constitution and composition of the Railway Board, thereby boosting the overall efficiency of railway operations.

The bill was introduced to modernize and strengthen the administrative framework of Indian Railways.

This will reduce the need to refer to two laws and instead reference will be required only to one law.

The functioning and independence of Railway Board will be enhanced with this Bill. All the provisions in the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 are proposed to be incorporated in the Railways Act, 1989 through this Bill.

The Railway Board is already in existence.

As per the introduced Bill, the expenditure of Railway Board will continue to be met from yearly Budgetary provision under revenue Budget of Indian Railways as being done presently. The Bill does not propose to create any new Board or body resulting in additional financial implication.

The provisions regarding the terms and conditions of service of the Chairman, Members of the Board, Secretary and the officers and other employees’ are already in place and no change is proposed in the proposed Bill.

These provisions may result in expenditure in the discharge of statutory functions of the Government in regular course of business, which would be met from yearly budgetary provision under revenue segment of Railway’s budget. However, any additional financial implication at this stage is not quantifiable.

The expenditure for Railway Board proposed to be constituted as statutory body under the Railways Act, 1989 would continue to be met from budgetary provision under revenue segment of Railway’s budget.

The Budget allocation for the Railway Board for financial year 2024-25 is Rs. 440.01 crore under Revenue Head.