1,129 Derailments In Last 4 Years, Rs 32 Cr Loss: 2022 CAG Report's Major Red Flags On Train Safety

For the time period between April 2017 and March 2021, there were 1129 cases of train derailment in the country resulting in a loss of around Rupees 32 crores. 

There have been 1129 incidents of train derailments in India between 2017 and 2021/Representational Image ( Image Source :Getty Images )

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its 2022 report on train derailments in India had flagged several shortcomings and made recommendations for its correction. The audit carried out for the period between April 2017 to March 2021 focused on ascertaining whether measures to prevent train derailments and collisions were clearly laid down and implemented by the Ministry of Railways. 

Here are the main findings of the 2022 CAG report on ‘Derailments in Indian Railways: 

• For the time period between April 2017 and March 2021, there were 1129 cases of train derailment in the country resulting in a loss of around Rupees 32 crores. 
• Highlighting the importance of timely submission of inquiry reports, the report mentioned that 67 per cent of such cases were not filed within the stipulated time. 
• Of all the derailed cases 156 of them took place due to lack of maintenance. 
• 182 train derailments in these four years were a result of the negligence of the mechanical department of the railways. 
• Overspeeding caused 154 trains to derail between these four years as per the report. 
• 275 cases of derailment happened due to the negligence of the operating department. 
• As many as 400 cases of derailed trains took place because of the negligence of the engineering department. 

Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh

In the Budget speech for the fiscal year 2017-18, the Central government announced ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ or the railway safety fund with a corpus of Rupees 1 lakh over a period of five years and an annual outlay of Rs 20,000 crore over five years. 

In its report, the CAG said that the railways failed to deposit Rs 15,775 crore (5,000 crore per year) in the fund during 2017-18 to 2020-21 which adversely affected the railway safety work. 

It also revealed that entire funds allocated for the first, second, and third priority areas could not be spent. 

Not only this, the Railways spent 15-20 per cent of the money (about Rs 2,300 crore) on non-priority areas (non-railway safety)

The CAG report has surfaced following the triple train accident in which three trains — Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, SMVT Bengaluru–Howrah SF Express, and a freight train — collided after Coromandel Express derailed near Bahanaga railway station in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday night killing 275 people.