“India’s ties in the railway sector, or for that matter in almost all sectors, especially in politics and the economy, are progressively growing,” said E. Ahamed, India's minister of state for railways, in Riyadh Sunday night.
Ahamed was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community reception hosted by Al-Huda Group, which operates several Indian schools in Saudi Arabia. T. P. Mohammed, Al-Huda Group’s managing director, and Mohammed Musthafa, principal of the Riyadh-based Al-Huda International School, addressed the audience on this occasion, while giving a brief of the minister’s work and achievements through the years.
Ahamed, who answered several questions from community members at the well-attended “Meet Your Minister” reception, said relevant Indian ministries, agencies and embassy officials had been in touch with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia to solve labor-related issues. To this end, he appreciated the efforts of his colleague Vayalar Ravi, minister of overseas affairs, who visited the Kingdom recently and had “very important” talks with senior officials of the Labor Ministry on diverse issues affecting Indian workers.
Referring to the Saudi-India cooperation in the railway sector, he said that that some projects were “being identified, while some are in the pipeline”.
He added that it was too early to say more about the projects in which Indian Railways will be involved in. But, India's state-owned Rites Company, he said, will be involved in the operation of the new 1,486-kilometre North-South railway. The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) and Rites signed a SR278 million agreement earlier.
Rites, an Indian government's enterprise, will help operate the railway, which is used for the transportation of phosphate and bauxite to Ras Azzour near Jubail.
Once operational, this railway link would make Saudi Arabia a leading supplier of phosphate and bauxite, according to a report published recently. Passenger traffic on the route would start in 2013 with trains passing through Riyadh, Sudair, Qassim, Hail and Al-Jouf, said the report.
Asked about the possibility of opening small offices in Saudi cities to make railway tickets available for Gulf passengers, in light of complaints that Indian Railways is not accepting credit cards when issuing tickets online, Ahamed assured that he would look into this problem.
To this end, he noted that Indian Railways was in the process of installing automated ticket vending machines (ATVMs) in India. He, however, could not provide details of the ATVM project. The plan is to install some 40,000 ATVMs in the first phase, slated to be initiated by the end of the year, said the report.
Indian Railways and related organizations like Rites have over 600 ongoing projects in India, besides some 30 projects overseas. Indian Railways has at least 64,000 kilometers of track and almost 7,000 stations across the length and breath of India. It has the world's fourth largest railway network after the United States, Russia and China. Indian Railways traverse the length and breadth of India and carry over 20 million passengers and two million tons of freight daily. It is one of the world's largest commercial or utility employers, with more than 1.6 million employees.
