Namaskarji,

The Governor of Rajasthan, Shri KalrajMishraji, Governor of Haryana, Shri Satyadev Narayan Aryaji, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Shri Ashok Gehlotji, Chief Minister of Haryana Shri Manohar Lal ji, Deputy Chief Minister Shri DushyantChautalaji, my colleagues in the Cabinet, Shri PiyushGoyalji, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawatji, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwalji, Shri Kailash Choudharyji from Rajasthan, Rao Inderjit Singh ji, Shri Rattan Lal Katariaji, Shri Krishan Pal ji from Haryana, all my other colleagues from Parliament, legislators, Ambassador of Japan to India, His Excellency Mr. Satoshi Suzuki ji, other dignitaries present at the event.

Brothers and sisters,

I wish you all for the New Year of 2021. The ongoing MahaYagnato modernize the country's infrastructure has gained a new momentum today. If we talk about the last 10-12 days only, more than Rs. 18,000 crore were transferred directly to the farmers' accounts with the help of the modern digital infrastructure; the National Common Mobility Card was launched on the Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro;and similarly, the driverless Metro was also started. The work began for AIIMS at Rajkot in Gujarat and IIM's permanent campus at Sambalpur in Odisha;the work began for the 6,000 houses in six cities of the country with the world's best technology; the National Atomic Timescale and BharatiyaNirdeshakDravyaSystem were dedicated to the nation;the foundation stone of the country's first National Environmental Standards Laboratory was laid; the 450 km-long Kochi-Mangaluru gas pipeline was inaugurated; the 100^th Kisan Rail ran from Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal; and at the same time, the first freight train ran on the new Bhaupur-New Khurja freight corridor route of Western Dedicated Corridor and now, today, the 306 km-long corridor of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor has been dedicated to the country. Think, so much has been done in just 10-12 days. When the country has started on a good note in the New Year, the time to come will be even better. So many inaugurations and foundation stones are also important because India has done all these things during this distressed period of Corona. A few days ago, India also approved two ‘Made in India’ vaccines for Corona. India's own vaccine has instilled new confidence among the countrymen. The head of which Indian, which son of Mother Bharati and which person who loves India will not be held high with pride after looking and listening about India’s rapid pace for self-reliance at the start of 2021. Today, every Indian's call is: we will neither halt, nor be tired; we Indians will move together and fast.

Friends,

This project of Dedicated Freight Corridor is being seen as a game changer for India in the 21st century. After the hard work of the last 5-6 years, a large part of it has become a reality today. The speed of freight trains has been recorded above 90 kilometres per hour on the New Bhaupur-New Khurja section which started a few days ago. On a route, where the average speed of freight trains has been only 25 kilometres per hour, these are now running about 3 times faster than before. India needs the same speed of development as compared to earlier and the country needs similar progress.

Friends,

Today, the first double stacked container goods train has been flagged off from New Ateli in Haryana to New Kishangarh in Rajasthan. That is container over a container and that too one-and-a-half kilometers long goods train; it is a great achievement in itself. India has joined the select nations in the world with this potentiality. There has been a great effort of our engineers, technicians and labourers behind this. I congratulate them for this proud achievement.

Friends,

This day has brought new hopes, new opportunities for farmers, entrepreneurs, businessmen and everyone from NCR, Haryana and Rajasthan. Dedicated freight corridors, whether Eastern or Western, are not just modern routes for modern freight trains. These dedicated freight corridors are also corridors for rapid development of the country. These corridors will also form the basis of development of new growth centres and growth points in different cities of the country.

Brothers and sisters,

The Eastern Freight Corridor has already started showing how it is strengthening the potential of different parts of the country. On the one hand, a train carrying thousands of tonnes of foodgrains from Punjab started on the New Bhaupur-New Khurja section, on the other hand, a freight train carrying thousands of tonnes of coal from Jharkhand and Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh reached NCR, Punjab and Haryana. The Western Freight Corridor will do the same from UP, Haryana to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. It will make farming and allied business in Haryana and Rajasthan easier and also infuse new energy to industries in several such districts like Mahendragarh, Jaipur, Ajmer and Sikar. The manufacturing units and entrepreneurs of these states will have faster access to national and international markets at a much lower cost. Faster and affordable connectivity to the ports of Gujarat and Maharashtra will boost new investment opportunities in the region.

Friends,

We all know very well that creation of modern infrastructure is as essential for business as is necessary for life and every new system gets an enabling boost for its advancement.The work associated with it speeds up many engines of the economy. It does not only create spot employment, but also creates new jobs in other industries like cement, steel, transport and many such sectors. As this Dedicated Freight Corridor covers 133 railway stations in 9 states, many other facilities like new multi-modal logistic parks, freight terminals, container depots, container terminals, parcel hubs etc will be developed. All these will benefit the farmers, the small industries, the cottage industries and the big manufacturers.

Friends,

Since it is an event of the Railways, it is natural to talk about tracks, and therefore, I will give you another example by using the analogy of the tracks. One track is working for the development of the individual; the other track is giving new energy to the growth engines of the country. If we talk about the development of a person, today there is a campaign to provide every facility like home, toilet, water, electricity, gas, roads, Internet to the common man in the country. Several welfare programmes are progressing at a rapid pace, be it the PM AwasYojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Saubhagya, Ujjwala, Pradhan MantriGraminor SadakYojana to make the lives of crores of Indians simpler, comfortable, full of self-confidence and they should have the opportunity to live in esteem. On the other hand, the second track of infrastructure is benefiting the growth engines of the country, our entrepreneurs and our industry. Today, the connectivity of highways, railways, airways, waterways is being spread all over the country rapidly. Ports are being connected with different means of transport and there is focus on multimodal connectivity.

Like freight corridors, economic corridors, defense corridors, tech clusters are being developed for the industry today. And friends, when the world notices that the best infrastructure for individuals and industry is being built in India, it has another positive impact. This is the result of this impact that India is witnessing a record FDI, India's growing foreign exchange reserves and the world's ever-growing trust in India. Mr. Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan, is also present at the event. Japan and its people have always been India's partners as a trusted friend in India's development journey. Japan has also provided economic cooperation as well as full technology support in the construction of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. I acknowledge and thank Japan and its people.

Friends,

The synergy between individual, industry and investment is also regularly modernizing the Indian Railways. Who can forget the kinds of experiences faced by the railway passengers? We have also been witness to those hardships. There was a litany of complaints from booking till the end of the journey. There has always been a demand for cleanliness, timely running of trains, service, facility or security, elimination of unmanned gates; the demand forimprovement in railways has been there at all levels. A new impetus has been given to these changes over the years. Whether it is cleanliness from station to compartments, or bio-degradable toilets, or improvement in food and beverages, or modern ticket booking system, or Tejas Express, or Vande Bharat Express or the vista-dome coaches, Indian Railways is getting modernized rapidly and taking India forward at a faster pace.

Friends,

In the last six years, the investment on new railway lines, widening and electrification of railway lines has never been done before. The focus on rail network has also increased the speed and scope of the Indian Railways. The day is not far away when the capital of every state of the North East will be connected with the railways. Semi high speed trains are running in India today. India is working for high speed trains from laying track to the best technology. Indian Railways is also becoming an example of Make in India and excellent engineering today. I am confident that this pace of railways will continue to give a new height to India's progress. My best wishes for the Indian Railways to serve the country in this way. In the Corona period, the way the railway colleagues worked, the labourers were transported to their homes; you have got a lot of blessings. This is my wish that the affection and blessing of the people of the country continue to be with every railway employee.

Once again, I congratulate the people of the country for the Western Dedicated freight Corridor.

Many many thanks!

DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.

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DS/VK/AK