If you thought that it was only the over utilisation of railway tracks by higher axle load wagons that may put your life in danger, there?s some more bad news. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, in its latest report, has slammed the ministry for using over aged diesel locomotives.
The committee has noted, ?Railways have not addressed the Committee?s concerns regarding the operational safety, which could be jeopardised as a result of the continued use of over aged rolling stocks.?
This comes in the backdrop of the fact that railways have not placed enough orders for new diesel locomotives with its manufacturing units during the initial three years of the 10th Plan from 2002 to 2005. In this period the ministry procured 326 diesel locos against a target of 655 for the entire Plan period. In the last two years of the Plan, it expected to get another 293 locos.
To meet the shortage of 36 locomotives, railways then postponed withdrawing 60 of the older locos for two years and continued using them. While doing so, it clearly put the safety issue on the backburner, the committee noted.
The Parliamentary panel in its report on Production Units, Railway Workshops and Maintenance has pointed out that this practice also led to gross under-utilisation of the manpower and technology available with the unit. It has also asked the ministry to specify the steps it plans to take to discontinue this practice of using over-aged locos.
The ministry in an earlier reply had told the committee that with an expected increase in the requirement of diesel locos in the coming years, it would ensure that the capacity of the diesel locomotive works in Varanasi is fully utilised.