Rail Shortage Puts Indian Railways Safety Upgrade At Risk

State-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) will be unable to meet the demand for new rails, delaying the planned $15 billion safety overhaul of Indian Railways, reported Neha Dasgupta for Reuters.

SAIL has said it will meet only 78 per cent of the demand in the year extending till the end of March 2018. This has led to an escalation of the matter by the Indian Railways to the Prime Minister’s Office, documents accessed by Reuters show.

Rail upgrades will now take longer as supplies are expected to improve only next year. This is a setback to the government, whose priorities are “track renewal” and “capacity augmentation” with the support of the railway safety fund.

“Unless SAIL steps up supply, the whole programme will be at risk,” Reuters quoted Railways Board Chairman A K Mital from his 19 May letter to Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma.

In the past couple of years, track defects have caused 25 per cent of train accidents. A $15 billion dollar fund was set up in February to fix that.

Also Read: Privatisation Is Only Hope For Indian Railways; Time For Modi To Accept Reality