Railways failed to improve mobility outcomes, mismatch in figures: CAG

The CAG report additionally found avoidable expenses to the tune of Rs 968 crore towards procurement of power from Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Limited (BRBCL).

The Indian Railways, despite having spent over Rs 2.5 trillion on track infrastructure from 2008-19, failed to improve its mobility outcomes with negligible improvements in Express trains and a decrease in speed of freight trains, a report by the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India said.

The report was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

“Audit found no perceptible improvement in mobility outcome indicators despite significant investments of ₹ 2.5 lakh crore for infrastructure during the last decade (2008-19). Audit found 0.18 per cent improvement in punctuality performance of Express trains, 0.61 per cent improvement in the average speed of Express trains and decrease of 9.72 per cent in the average speed of Goods trains. Further, as against the contribution of 51 per cent of five critical factors (Path, Traffic, Engineering, Block and S&T), only 19.81 per cent of expenditure was made against these factors,” the CAG said in the report.

Availability of sufficient capacity on the route can run all passenger carrying trains punctually and also handle additional freight traffic, CAG said, adding that there were significant differences between capacity utilisation figures claimed and simulated. Indicating over-pitching of line capacity utilisation.

CAG also said that Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) could not fully utilise the World Bank funds resulting in the payment of avoidable commitment charges to the tune of Rs 16 crore. DFCCIL is the prime organisation charged with the execution of the long-awaited dedicated freight corridors for Indian Railways.

The auditor also found that DFCCIL incurred avoidable expenditure of up to Rs 285 crore due to incorrect assessment of land and delay in payment of compensation to affected parties.

CAG also found that injudicious decision making by Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) in its dealings with Indian Railways led to it taking a Rs 700-crore working capital loan, which it subsequently opted out of. The disinvestment-bound PSU faced interest losses of over Rs 85 crore due to this.

The report additionally found avoidable expenses to the tune of Rs 968 crore towards procurement of power from Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Limited (BRBCL). “This avoidable expenditure includes Rs 463.30 crore towards fixed capacity charges and Rs 505.43 crore due to injudicious decision to discontinue power purchase agreement with TATA Power- Distribution and procurement of power from BRBCL at higher tariff,” the auditor found.

CAG has recommended that the national transporter address critical factors of detention with commensurate expenditure on track alignment, track renewal, signaling, doubling work etc.