CAG Report on Indian Railways | 08 Aug 2018

According to a recent CAG report tabled in the Parliament, the focus of Railways’ modernisation plans is misplaced.

• According to the report titled ‘Augmentation of Station Line Capacity on Selected Stations in Indian Railways’, timely movement of trains should be one of the most important parameters to judge the quality of service being provided to the passengers.
• The audit studied 15 railway stations across the country with maximum traffic, including Allahabad, Kanpur, Mathura, Mughalsarai, Chennai Central, Howrah, Bhopal, Ahmedabad and New Delhi railway stations.
• At present the focus is mainly on improving the façade and passenger facilities, rather that removing bottlenecks to ensure timely movement of trains.
• It acknowledged that although there has been a significant increase in the number of trains handled per day in the 15 selected stations, the infrastructure were not augmented.
• It noted that the trains have to wait at outer signals or the adjacent station until the platform is vacated by the earlier train because of non-availability of platforms. The detention of goods trains was significantly higher.

Major Recommendations

• Providing platforms with adequate length for easy boarding of long trains,
• Further expansion of the stations by adding more platforms,
• Providing adequate facilities for stabling trains (trains that are parked while awaiting their next turn of duty)
• Adequate yard capacity
• Availability of adequate washing pit lines.