Indian Railways spent over Rs 1 Lakh crore in 5 years to improve safety

The railways has spent more than Rs 1 lakh crore on safety measures between 2017-2018 and 2021-22 with a steady growth in expenditure on track renewal, according to an official document.

Government sources also indicated that the railways will soon reply to a Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report that was cited by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to attack the Centre over the Friday triple-train accident in Odisha's Balasore that claimed 275 lives and injured more than 1,000 people.

Kharge on Monday had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that "all the empty safety claims" of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw have been "exposed".

He also said there is serious concern among people about the deterioration in safety of railways. In his letter, Kharge had pointed out that the 2022 CAG report "Derailment in Indian Railways" highlights that funding for the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) has been reduced by a massive 79 per cent.

It was claimed during the budget presentation that about Rs 20,000 crore would be available annually, but this was not done, he had claimed and asked why were the required funds not allocated for track renewal work.