Sr Rly officers head en masse for foreign trips;Lalu to follow

New Delhi, June 14 (UNI) With substantial revenue in hand, the Railways seem to be having no problem in sending their senior officers en masse on foreign trips.

Especially when the 'mission' is to acquire knowhow to make Indian Railway world class, a dream of their supreme head Lalu Prasad.

About 50 senior officers are headed or will soon head for Europe and US with the Railway Minister likely to follow them next week, sources told UNI.

The visit will be Mr Prasad's first foreign trip as Railway Minister. He will visit France, Germany and UK.

The officers who have left for abroad or in the process of leaving are in the rank of chairmen, secretaries and GMs of various zones.

The purpose of the visit is said to study the latest in railway transport and travel so as to make Indian Railways the No. 1 in the world, a promise of the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad envisioned in this year's railway budget.

The Railway Board has already instructed Divisional Railway Managers to identify 250 railway stations for converting them into model railway stations with world class facilities within a year.

The officers immediately planned visit to developed countries as their first step towards achieving this goal.

Meanwhile, a number of foreign experts in the field are converging in the capital tomorrow for a two-day convention on public-private partnership in the Railway sector.

The convention will be inuagurated by the Railway Minister.

Besides, Ministers of State for Railway R Velu and Naranbhai J Rathwa, senior officers will partcipate in the deliberations.

The foreign countries, whose experts will take part in the convention, include US, Germany, Japan, UK, Belgium, Australia and South Africa.

UNI NAZ VD DS1220