Over 3,000 trains cancelled in 2019 due to maintenance work on railway network: RTI reply

Over 3,000 trains were canceled last year due to maintenance works on the Indian Railways network, the highest since 2014, the national transporter said in response to an RTI query. "This indicates that the railways have undertaken large-scale repair and development projects which when completed will make the network more modern and safe," a railway official said.

In 2014, 101 trains were canceled due to maintenance work, the number increased to 829 in 2017 and 2,867 in 2018. In 2019, 3,146 trains were canceled because of maintenance work, the railways stated in its reply. The RTI was filed by Madhya Pradesh-based Chandra Shekhar Gaur.

Between January 1 and September 30 last year, 2,251 trains were canceled and from October 1 to December 31 last year, 895 trains were canceled due to maintenance works, as per the reply. In 2019, the railways completed seven of the 58 super-critical projects underway on congested routes. One of these projects was finished in 2018, officials said.

The remaining 50 will be completed by March 2022, they said. "The ongoing large-scale works on the railway network has resulted in cancellations and delay of trains. But these are essential works which had been pending for a long time.

"Though passengers are facing inconvenience, this is a burden we all have to bear if track renewal and maintenance work has to be done," an official said. The officials said the railways have planned to complete the electrification of its network by December 2023.

It has also set a target to complete all sanctioned works for gauge conversion by December 2023 and doubling of routes by March 2024, they said. Maintenance includes upgrading of platforms, yard lines, and tracks. Poor maintenance of tracks and pending track works are major reasons for train accidents.

Over 50 percent of accidents in the last five years were due to derailments. The railways are in the process of expanding capacity and modernizing infrastructure.

The budget has allocated Rs 12,000 crore to build new rail tracks in 2020-21, up from Rs 7,881 crore in FY20. As much as Rs 8,461 crore was spent for track renewals this fiscal, which will rise to Rs 10,599 crore in 2020-21.

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