In end 2017, the chairman of the Railway Board,
Ashwani Lohani said that he accumulated deficit in upkeep of infrastructure due
to "decades
of neglect" is taking a toll on the Indian Railways.
While the investigation into a nov 2016 train derailment was still underway, railway experts said it was most likely caused by tracks that had deteriorated over the years.
Most railway tracks are checked every day with ultrasonic detectors that can spot changes in track conditions. This is followed by visual inspections, railway managers say.
But with many jobs vacant, some lapses in checks should be expected, they warned.
For years, it’s been clear that Indian Railways are badly hobbled by funding shortfalls, aging tracks, outdated signaling, and communications systems and a traffic volume that has pushed these systems beyond their limits. Successive governments have starved Indian Railways of funds, denying it key resources to upgrade critical equipment and pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy.
USD $3-4 billion was needed simply to replace old equipment. Instead, the government approved a mere $485 million in the 2016 budget. Therefore, the much-required replacement of old assets is postponed — knowingly compromising safety.
‘‘When we can barely manage train speeds as they are at present, such talk of building bullet trains on which billions of dollars are to be spent is illogical,’’ said Basudev Acharya, a former lawmaker who headed a parliamentary committee overseeing railway operations.
‘‘What needs immediate fixing is to ensure adequate funds for maintenance of the existing stock and, most importantly, filling up vacancies among safety workers,’’ Acharya said.
Railway workers say decades of funding crunches have taken their toll. Passenger trains in India run at slow speeds, averaging around 30 miles an hour, while freight trains are even slower, averaging half that.
‘‘Even at such low speeds we have a high number of deaths in railway accidents. Can you imagine the toll if the speed were any faster?’’ said N.B. Dutta, a railway locomotive driver and president of the All India Loco Running Staff Association, a train operators’ trade union.
Successive governments have failed to implement the recommendations of state-appointed committees on rail safety.
In Jan 2019, there was 60 per cent vacancy in staff for inspection and maintenance of railway bridges. There existed no separate protocol for inspection and maintenance of bridges which were 100 years old or older. The Standing Committee on Railways felt this is a grave lapse on the part of the ministry in ensuring safety of rail traffic.
The parliamentary panel said against the total bridge population of 1.4 lakh, the railways has approved the rehabilitation of a minuscule number of bridges, which was "not proportionate to the number of bridges requiring upgradation".
While the investigation into a nov 2016 train derailment was still underway, railway experts said it was most likely caused by tracks that had deteriorated over the years.
Most railway tracks are checked every day with ultrasonic detectors that can spot changes in track conditions. This is followed by visual inspections, railway managers say.
But with many jobs vacant, some lapses in checks should be expected, they warned.
For years, it’s been clear that Indian Railways are badly hobbled by funding shortfalls, aging tracks, outdated signaling, and communications systems and a traffic volume that has pushed these systems beyond their limits. Successive governments have starved Indian Railways of funds, denying it key resources to upgrade critical equipment and pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy.
USD $3-4 billion was needed simply to replace old equipment. Instead, the government approved a mere $485 million in the 2016 budget. Therefore, the much-required replacement of old assets is postponed — knowingly compromising safety.
‘‘When we can barely manage train speeds as they are at present, such talk of building bullet trains on which billions of dollars are to be spent is illogical,’’ said Basudev Acharya, a former lawmaker who headed a parliamentary committee overseeing railway operations.
‘‘What needs immediate fixing is to ensure adequate funds for maintenance of the existing stock and, most importantly, filling up vacancies among safety workers,’’ Acharya said.
Railway workers say decades of funding crunches have taken their toll. Passenger trains in India run at slow speeds, averaging around 30 miles an hour, while freight trains are even slower, averaging half that.
‘‘Even at such low speeds we have a high number of deaths in railway accidents. Can you imagine the toll if the speed were any faster?’’ said N.B. Dutta, a railway locomotive driver and president of the All India Loco Running Staff Association, a train operators’ trade union.
Successive governments have failed to implement the recommendations of state-appointed committees on rail safety.
In Jan 2019, there was 60 per cent vacancy in staff for inspection and maintenance of railway bridges. There existed no separate protocol for inspection and maintenance of bridges which were 100 years old or older. The Standing Committee on Railways felt this is a grave lapse on the part of the ministry in ensuring safety of rail traffic.
The parliamentary panel said against the total bridge population of 1.4 lakh, the railways has approved the rehabilitation of a minuscule number of bridges, which was "not proportionate to the number of bridges requiring upgradation".
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