Railway Minister Piyush Goyal took charge of the ministry on Friday. He claimed that he was happy that PM Narendra Modi had reassigned the portfolio to him as it would imply "continuity" in the work of the ministry.
He then stated that his focus areas will be improving passenger experience and modernizing the railways.
He was with the Minister of State Angadi Suresh Channabasappa, a four-time lawmaker from Karnataka.
Goyal has reportedly achieved the lowest accident figures in his previous tenure, repeatedly claimed that his goal was to reach the zero-accident standard.
"Together we can take the work of railways to newer heights. Newer heights of transparency, newer heights of innovative thinking, newer heights of bringing honesty in the railways and growth in passengers and freight traffic. Newer speed of implementing infra projects and customer satisfaction that is the new Indian Railways and new India that the PM has charted for us," he said.
However, Goyal claimed that his biggest challenge will be to maintain the record of maintaining punctuality, timely track maintenance and renewal. His aim is to ensure that railway factories boost up the production of state-of-the-art coaches for trains.
Goyal had been pushing for generating resources through non-fare revenue. His action had hit a stonewall during his last stint. However, he is likely to drive this idea as he believes that this will bring in additional funds to boost the railways' finances.
In his first stint, the Rajya Sabha member, Goyal, achieved several firsts. During his tenure the government announced its first bullet train which would run from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, PM Narendra Modi's home state; manufactured its first indigenously-built and engine-less high-speed train Vande Bharat Express; commissioned its longest bridge; converted a diesel loco into an electric one for the first time; and built its first transport university and its first air-conditioned local train.