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CAG Report On Train Accidents: Regarding the Odisha train accident, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Sunday (June 4) that the reasons for the incident have been known. They said, "This accident happened due to change in interlocking. The people responsible in the incident have also been identified and the investigation report will be revealed soon." On the other hand, if we look at the audit report released by the CAG in 2022, the derailment was already mentioned in it and the reasons behind it were also explained.
Reduction in the money spent on track renovation from Railway Fund on priority works has been cited as one of the main reasons. Railway Safety Fund or Rashtriya Rail Suraksha Kosh (RRSK fund) is a reserve fund, which has received a fund of Rs 1 lakh crore in the last five years since 2017-2018. The report states that improper use of this fund has been the main reason for 289 out of 1,127 train derailments between 2017-21.
How much reduced track renovation fund?
According to the report, apart from the fall in the expenditure on priority works from RRSK, track renovation works came down and funds already allocated were also not properly utilised. In 2017-18, the overall expenditure had decreased from 81 percent i.e. 13,652 crores to 73 percent i.e. 11,655 crores in 2019-20. The fund for track renovation was Rs 9607 crore in 2018-19, which has come down to Rs 7417 crore in 2019-20.
What did the report say on track renovation?
Out of 1,14,907 km of the total track length of Indian Railways (IR), 4,500 km should be renovated annually. However, there has been a steady decline in the track renovation progress in the last six years due to financial constraints, the report said. The Standing Committee on Railways (2016-17) observed that the targets set for track renovation were not met.
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