New Delhi, March 4 The government on Wednesday said that the Railways has adopted various modern technologies for the inspection of bridges and in 2019-20 it has sanctioned 4,168 bridges for repairing at an estimated cost of Rs 752 crore.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said, "Various modern technologies like drone survey, 3D scanning of river beds and water level monitoring have been adopted and being used for the inspection of the bridges. During 2019-20, a total of 4,168 railway bridges are sanctioned for repairing/strengthening/rehabilitation /rebuilding at an allocated fund of Rs 752 crore."
Goyal further said there are 1,50,746 bridges on Indian Railways network including Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Rail Under Bridges (RUBs). He said safety of bridges is accorded high priority. "There is a well established system of inspection of bridges including ROBs and RUBs on Indian Railways. All the bridges are inspected twice a year, once before the onset of monsoon and one detailed inspection after the monsoon by the designated officials," he added.
The minister further said that a large number of passengers are rendered first aid medical assistance during the journey in the national transporter. He said on the receipt of requests, 60,806 rail passengers requiring medical care were attended by railway or private doctors on payment basis during 2018-19.
He said, Railways in compliance of orders of Supreme Court and as recommended by Committee of experts constituted at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), instructions have been issued to provide a Medical Box containing life saving medicines, equipments, oxygen cylinder etc. at all railway stations and passenger carrying trains.
"Front line staff i.e. Train Ticket Examiner, Train Superintendents, Assistant Station Master etc. are trained in rendering first aid," the minister said.
He also said that regular refresher courses are conducted for such staff and list of nearby hospitals and doctors along with their contact numbers are available at all railway stations. "Ambulance services of railways, state government or private hospitals and ambulance service providers are utilised to transport the injured or sick passengers to the hospitals or clinics," Goyal added.
( With inputs from IANS )