Q1 results show railways on track, exceeding targets: Officials

NEW DELHI: A day after the twin derailments in Madhya Pradesh that claimed 25 lives, the railways said safety of passengers was a priority for them and they were well on target to augment capacity and decongest the tracks.

A senior railway official briefing ET said 65 per cent of the existing lines were high density and operating on more than 100 per cent capacity, leaving little time for proper maintenance. “This is the main reason why the minister ( Suresh Prabhu) refrained from announcing new trains in the budget but stressed on capacity augmentation,” he said.

The railway officials said the twin train accidents were unfortunate and that the organisation would act on the report of inquiry commission as soon as it came out. Many of them, however, still insisted that it was a “natural calamity”.

Giving figures for the first quarter of the financial year 2015-16, officials said they were not just meeting targets but exceeding them. The total projected capital expenditure during the first quarter was Rs 13,231 crore and the ministry had already utilised Rs 17,734 crore, 134 per cent of the target. This included expenditure on doubling of tracks, gauge conversion, new lines, electrification and track renewals.

“All this goes into making rail travel safer. The target for track renewals, for example, was Rs 881 crore. However, Rs 1,238 crore has already been utilised in the first three months. We will exceed the target of Rs 4,300 crore set for the entire year. The first two quarters are generally slow as contracts have to be given and rain during monsoons also slows down the work. Speed picks up in the last two quarters. So, we are well on track,” explained a railway official.