In 2020, railways proved to be lifeline of the country

By Anand Singh New Delhi, Dec 25 : The year 2020 proved that Indian Railways is the lifeline of the country as the national transporter played a significant role in transporting lakhs of stranded migrant workers back to their homes and also took up the task of maintaining supply of essential commodities amid the nationwide lockdown triggered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The railways also took the maintenance work of its infrastructure amid the lockdown as train operations across the country were very minimal.
According to Railway Ministry officials, in the beginning of the year, the national transporter had started the procedure of merging all cadres into one.
The officials said that the merger was required to do away with department rivalry.
The railways also started the process of allowing private players to run passenger trains and corporatising all production units in 2020, an official said.
After the train services were stopped in the last week of March due to the outbreak of the pandemic, the railways continued to run freight trains which helped maintain the essential supply chain across the country.