NEW DELHI: There were one and two accidents or derailments on an average each day during the tenures of Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad as railway ministers, respectively, Ashwini Vaishnaw said in Rajya Sabha on Monday, amid attacks from opposition over recent incidents of rail mishaps. Replying to the debate on working of railway ministry, Vaishnaw said in 2005-06, when RJD supremo Lalu was the minister, there were 698 accidents and derailments. "During TMC chief Banerjee's tenure, there were 395 accidents and derailments, and when Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge was railway minister, the number of accidents and derailments were 38," he said.
"Where there was once an average of one accident per day, today the number has been reduced to just 30 accidents per year. Even if we include 43 derailments, the total stands at 73. This means that the number, which was previously around 700, has now dropped to less than 80, a remarkable 90% reduction," Vaishnaw said.
He said around 100 locomotives would be exported soon from Marhaura factory in Bihar's Saran district. Though Lalu Prasad had announced setting up of the factory, it remained "inactive" and work began only after PM Narendra Modi came to office, the railway minister said. 'Made in Bihar' locomotives will soon be reaching destinations across the world, he said.
Reading out the list of countries importing trains and locomotives from India, he said while metro coaches are being exported to Australia, train bogies are being shippe.