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

In a recent report published by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), serious concerns have been raised regarding the state of train derailments in the country. The CAG's 2022 audit report highlighted numerous deficiencies and put forth recommendations for rectifying the prevailing issues. The comprehensive investigation covered the period from April 2017 to March 2021, with a primary focus on assessing the Ministry of Railways' effectiveness in implementing preventive measures against train derailments and collisions.

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.

The recent report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has uncovered serious mismanagement and underutilization of the 'Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh,' a dedicated railway safety fund announced by the Central government during the 2017-18 fiscal year budget speech. The fund, which was established with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore over five years and an annual outlay of Rs 20,000 crore, aimed to enhance railway safety measures across the country.

According to the CAG report, the Indian Railways failed to deposit Rs 15,775 crore (Rs 5,000 crore per year) into the safety fund during the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21. This significant shortfall in funds severely impacted railway safety work and compromised the timely implementation of crucial safety initiatives.

Furthermore, the report highlighted that the allocated funds for the first, second, and third priority areas could not be fully utilized. This revelation raises concerns about the inefficient allocation and utilization of resources, resulting in missed opportunities to improve safety measures in critical areas.

Shockingly, the CAG report also revealed that approximately 15-20 percent of the funds, amounting to around Rs 2,300 crore, were diverted towards non-priority areas unrelated to railway safety. This misappropriation of funds for non-essential purposes further exacerbated the financial strain on essential safety projects.

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.