Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has said the government has undertaken several measures including joint ventures with state governments for railway projects to kick start country's economy. He said a number of steps have been taken to improve passenger amenities including sanitation by spending excess funds than their budget. <br/><br/>Mr Prabhu was replying to a discussion today on Demands for excess grants of Railways for 2012-13 in the Lok Sabha in the absence of major opposition parties. He said the public sector Life Insurance Corporation has agreed to provide funds to the tune of Rs 1.50 lakh crore to Railways for five years for infrastructure development. He said 17 states have come forward to take part in the joint projects to expand railway infrastructure. He thanked Maharastra government for earmarking 10 thousand crore rupees in this regard. <br/>He said the railways is going to sign an MoU very soon with National Thermal Power Corporation to set up a solar project. Referring to encroachment of railway land, he said a project of digital mapping of the land has been started. Later the House adopted the Appropriation (Railways) No. 3 Bill, 2015.