Railways eyes Rs 1.1-lakh cr fund for infra upgrade

Preliminary discussion on, with the aim to address needs for ensuring end to track accidents

Indian Railways (IR) is working on a proposal to create a mega fund called Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK), with a corpus of Rs 1,10,239 crore, to upgrade its creaking infrastructure.

Officials said the fund would be used to eliminate level-crossings, install collision avoidance systems, as well as for track renewal and signal upgrades.

“The idea is to seek the bulk of this fund from the finance ministry,” said a senior Railway Board official, who did not wish to be identified. “This includes around Rs 40,000 crore for elimination of unmanned level crossings and replacing old signalling and telecom infrastructure, which lead to more than half the rail-related accidents.”

The rail ministry had set up a six-member committee under the executive director of its planning directorate for a scheme, including funding sources and focus areas. The committee had sought inputs on fund requirements from directorates — mechanical, electrical and civil engineering, among others. The inputs are expected by the end of next week. The committee will then create a consolidated proposal within a month and send it to the finance ministry.

“The initial estimate works out to Rs 1,10,239 crore but is likely to be expanded,” the official said. Another senior Board official said discussions on the sources of the fund were still at a preliminary stage. “It is still not clear whether a separate cess would have to be levied to create the fund, like it was done in 2001. But, the fund would be used largely for addressing safety-related issues,” he said.

A similar fund to bolster safety infrastructure was introduced in 2001, when Nitish Kumar was railways minister, to wipe out the accumulated arrears of renewal on aged assets, including tracks, bridges, signalling gears and rolling stock. It was created with an initial corpus of Rs 17,000 crore, of which Rs 12,000 crore had come from the finance ministry as dividend-free capital. The fund was closed in 2008 and its balance of Rs 597 crore merged to the Depreciation Reserve Fund.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu had earlier this month met with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, seeking assistance for creation of a special fund for safety upgrade.  After the recent spate of train accidents, Prabhu had announced a zero-accident mission. Officials said the fund was a part of that initiative.

The year 2015 has seen eight train accidents because of derailments. Two trains had derailed minutes apart at the same spot near Harda in Madhya Pradesh in August, claiming 29 lives, forcing Prabhu to pull up zonal general managers.

UPGRADE PLAN

• Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) to have corpus of Rs 1,10,239 crore
   
• Railway Board panel working out blueprint but initial discussions suggest funding assistance being sought from finance ministry
   
• Money to be used to strengthen rail and safety infrastructure
   
• No clarity on whether the government would introduce a safety cess to create the fund
   
• A similar cess levied in 2001 by Nitish Kumar helped raise Rs 17,000 crore
  

 

The idea for RRSK was mooted in the aftermath of the spate of train accidents earlier this year that claimed innocent lives