Revisiting CAG report: Indian Railways' Rail Safety record is unenviable

New Delhi: Funds allocated for rail safety-related works have either been under-utilised or diverted for other purposes in past years, official documents show, in the aftermath of Odisha triple train crash.

In the 2017-18 budget, a five-year safety fund called the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) was set up with a corpus of Rs 100,000 crore. 

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Each year, Rs 20,000 crore was meant to have been spent to enhance safety works, with a contribution of Rs15,000 crore from the Central Government by way of Gross Budgetary Support and Rs 5,000 crore through internal generation by the Indian Railways. 

While the Union Government contributed its annual share of Rs 15,000 crore, the Railways could only rustle up Rs 4,225 crore during the four-year period from 2017-18 to 2020-21, as brought out by the March 2022 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG).  

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In terms of the actual deployment of funds to the RRSK during the four-year period, therefore, there was a shortage of Rs. 15,775 crore. 

“This situation defeats the primary objective of the creation of the RRSK”, the C&AG observed.

“In the aftermath of the ghastly train crash at Balasore, there is a need to revisit the recommendations of various bodies and committees including the C&AG and take whatever measures are required to provide for a fail-safe system of rail transport. There should be no attempts to shift blame and adopt diversionary tactics. The Railways need to revert to the basics”, former Railway Board member Rajiv Jaruhar said.

Diversion of RRKS funds

India’s top auditor conducted a sample fact-check in relation to the spending vouchers from the RRKS corpus for the months of December 2017, March 2019, September 2019 and January 2021 – and came out with startling conclusions. 

During the audit of vouchers involving a money value of Rs. 2,995.58 crore, it was found that expenditure had been incurred on non-safety works including passenger amenities upgrade, purchase of almirahs, utensils, crockery and furniture – and for disbursing salary and bonus arrears.

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Official documents also show that the overall works under identified Priority-1 works of the RRSK declined from 81.55 per cent utilisation in 2017-18 to 73.76 per cent in 2019-20, while the utilization position of a majority of Railway Zones was no more than 60 per cent. 

The Western Railway utilized only 44.36 per cent. Correspondingly, the funds' utilisation position for the Priority-2 and Priority-3 areas demonstrated a rising graph. 

“The increasing trend towards non-priority works against the guiding principles of the RRKS”, the C&AG observed.

“The trouble is that rail safety issues have not been taken seriously. It is unusual that the earlier demands for the setting up of an independent safety regulator have died out”, said Sanjay Pandhi, Vice Chairman of the All India Loco Running Organization (AIRLO).

Permissions to run trains and inquiries into train crashes are conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety – a statutory body functioning under the aegis of the Civil Aviation Ministry. 

“But facilities to CRS officials including office space are provided by the Railways. The deputy commissioner is usually an officer on deputation from the Railway service, who reverts to his cadre subsequently. The CRS, therefore, remains under pressure from the Railways Ministry,” Pandhi added.

Decline in funding for track renewal

For these years, the allocations and spending on the critical task of track renewal also declined – from Rs 9,607.65 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 7,414 crore in 2019-20. 

Railway zones were also unable to fully utilize these funds. Seven zones surrendered funds to the tune of Rs 299 crore in 2017-18; nine zones surrendered Rs 162.85 crore in 2018-19 and five zones surrendered Rs 11.68 crore in 2019-20. 

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Audit data collected from 31 divisions in 16 zones for the four-year period showed that against the target of 9,278.17 km of complete track renewal, only 7,984.36 Km was achieved – with a shortfall of 1,298.81 Km. 

In its report of December 2016, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways observed that “tracks form the backbone of the rail transport system and therefore needs to be maintained in safe and fit condition”. 

The standing committee underlined that 4,500 km of tracks should annually be renewed. These targets are not being met.