Fund crunch hits rly safety work

Chandigarh : While the number of rail accidents due to derailment has reduced considerably since the turn of this century, such incidents have shown an upward trend over the past few years. Each year up to 84 per cent of accidents are attributed to derailment, but financial issues are delaying required safety works.
The number of derailments in 2011-12 was 55, which went down to 49 in 2012-13. However, the next year the number was 53, which went up to 63 in 2014-15 and 65 in 2015-16, a Parliamentary Committee report tabled this month has observed.
In 2003-04, the number of derailments was 2002, which came down to 80 in 2010-11. Rail fracture, weld failure, track defects, improper protection at work sites, defects in wagons and coaches and negligence by locomotive pilots are among the major reasons for derailment.
The railways has over a period of time upgraded the track structure and gone in for long welded rails that reduce the number of vulnerable joints and introduced better welding techniques, besides introducing ultrasonic testing of their rails and welds and large-scale mechanised maintenance. However, the replacement of over-aged assets, both track and rolling stock, remains one of the key areas of concern. India has a track network of 1.15 lakh km and, according to railways provisions, an average 4,500 km of track should ideally be renewed annually. However, due to financial constraints, the progress of track renewals is constantly coming down for the past six years and at present, 5,000 km of track length is due for renewal.