Experts see fund crunch as reason for rising rail mishaps

The question becomes inevitable after a string of derailments, latest being the Hirakhand Express

Was there a compromise with safety in the 2016-17 Railways Budget, in a bid to present better-looking data? 

The question arises after Saturday night’s derailment of the Hirakhand Express in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh.

"In that Budget, minister Suresh Prabhu cut on allocations meant for the Depreciation Reserve Fund (DRF), to show a less unwholesome operating ratio, the parameter on which the railways' financial health is judged. There is a shortage of funds for maintenance of tracks and rolling stock because of that," said a sector expert, on condition of anonymity. 

DRF is meant for upkeep and replacement of crucial assets, including rail tracks. According to critics, the appropriation to it in the 2016-17 Budget was Rs 3,200 crore, nearly 60 per cent down from the 2015-16 budgeted figure of Rs 7,900 crore and 42 per cent down from the revised estimate of Rs 5,500 crore. By doing so, Prabhu managed a budgeted operating ratio of 92 for 2016-17, which otherwise would have been much higher.  

"Repeated accidents show there are maintenance issues with tracks and rolling stock. In that case, a fare hike is necessary for the railways to sustain and being a chartered accountant, Prabhu should understand that," said Shanti Narayan, former member (rraffic) of the Railway Board.

The railways have faced ire on social media after the collision. "At least 276 people have been killed and 835 injured in rail accidents since the Modi government took office," one of the posts said. 

This comes after a series of accidents in the past three months. The earlier one was on December 28, near Rura, 70 km from Kanpur, when 15 coaches of the Ajmer-Sealdah Express derailed, killing two. There was also a derailment of the Indore-Patna Express on November 20 at Pukhrayan, near Kanpur, claiming 150 150 lives 

"We are taking the necessary safety measures. The strategy includes producing only Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB, which have anti-collision technology) coaches from 3018-19," said the railways ministry spokesperson. According to official figures, of the 63,000 coaches, about 53,000 are of relatively unsafe technology. 

After the Kanpur mishap, the railways had decided to phase out Integral Coach Factory carriages from 2018 onwards. The railways produce around 3,000 coaches a year and phase out nearly 1,000 annually basis. The railways have 4,000 LHB coaches; another 6,000 also have an anti-collision Centre Buffer Coupler (CBC) mechanism. The plan is to add CBC to the remaining coaches, too. Apart from this, an ultra-sonic fault detection technique, used in South Africa will be implemented. This technique is having a trial run in the Moradabad and Allahabad divisions.