If Indian Railways were to attempt a tagline for its achievements over this year, it would probably be - '2018, a year of many firsts', says Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. While train delays, bad quality of food, overcharging by caterers remained the pet peeves of passengers through the year, 2018 marked the coming of age of railways - it manufactured India's fastest train, commissioned its longest bridge, converted a diesel loco into an electric one for the first time, built its first transport university, its first air-conditioned local train and perhaps its biggest first in the last three decades - lowest accident figures. However, the role of the railways came under the scanner after the Amritsar train mishap on Dussehra in which 58 people were killed.

Questions were raised as to how railways gave the green signal to a fast train despite the presence of a huge crowd on the tracks. According to Goyal, ¿safety has been given the highest priority and this year saw the lowest ever rail accidents". "Over the last four and a half years we have inculcated a new culture of implementing transformative reforms, setting ambitious targets and pushing the boundaries to give a green signal to growth. As a result, the past year has emerged as a year of 'many firsts' for Indian Railways," Goyal told PTI. While in 2017-2018 till March, there were 73 accidents, since April there were 45 such cases till December 15. During April-December last year, there were 54 such cases.