St. Petersburg, 19 June (IANS). Union Railway, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Thursday met Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexi Overchuk and discussed issues like Transport, Connectivity, Infrastructure and Rare Earth Metal.
The meeting between the veteran leaders of the two countries took place in St. Petersburg, one of the largest cities in Russia.
The Union Minister said in a post on the social media handle ‘X’, “Russia met Alexi Overchuk. He discussed the major issues of cooperation including transport, connectivity, infrastructure and rare meaning metal.”
According to a post on the social media platform ‘X’ conducted by the Consulate General of India in St. Petersburg, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has arrived in St. Petersburg to participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2025).
SPIEF has started on 2025, 18 June and will run till 21 June.
Before going to Russia, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav inaugurated the country’s largest automobile multi-model cargo terminal at the Maruti Suzuki India Limited Plant in Manesar, Haryana on 17 June.
The new speed strength in Maruti Suzuki’s plant greatly increases the logistics efficiency of cargo terminal automobile transport. The Manesar plant is connected to Patli railway station through a 10 km rail link, which is part of the 121.7 km long Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor being developed by Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (HRIDC).
800 crore has been invested for the construction of this 10 km link, in which HRIDC contributed Rs 684 crore and the remaining amount was given by Maruti Suzuki. The loading capacity of this speed power cargo terminal is the highest in India with 4.5 million automobiles per year.
During the inauguration program, the Union Minister said that there has been a big change in the Indian Railways in the last decade. Before 2014, the annual budget of Indian Railways was 24,000 to 25,000 crore rupees, which has now increased to Rs 2.5 lakh crore.
-IANS
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