Slow progress on railway safety: Economic Survey
- Safety issues are a concern after a spate of railway accidents, but the Economic Survey, 2023-24, released on Monday, indicates limited progress on safety-related works such as deployment of the automatic train protection system Kavach and overhaul of signaling systems at all stations.
- Kavach has been deployed on 1,465 route km in South Central Railway, the Survey says. This is just 2.14% of the total railway network of 68,426 route km and 7,349 railway stations.
- So far, of the 17 operational railway zones in India, eight have become free from mechanical signaling, the Survey says.
Capex deployment
- The Survey also states that the capital expenditure deployment in the Railways has increased by 77% over the past five years, to ₹2.62 lakh crore in 2023-24 with significant investments in construction of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling.
- However, till 2022-23, 2,981 railway stations had made the switch from mechanical signalling to electronic interlocking system. This comes to only 40% of India’s 7,325 railway stations.
- The Survey points out that in 2023-24, 443 additional stations made the switch, with 46% of the stations now having electronic interlocking systems.
- The system was introduced in India 12 years ago. “Until March 31, 2024, EI has been provided at 3,424 stations,” the Survey says.
- Yet another signalling intervention, automatic block signalling, is a system that controls the movement of trains between the blocks using automatic signals, which helps trains operating in one direction move safely without any risk of collision from the rear.
- The Survey says this proven low-cost signalling solution has been provided on 582 route km during 2023-24. Until March 31, since the time it was commissioned, the system has been commissioned on 4,431 route km on high-density network routes. This comes to a 6.47% coverage across the length of Indian Railways.
Prelims Takeaway:
- Railway
- Eco Survey