Indian Railways has dismissed a report by Times of India that claimed that 98% of the railway tracks in India were laid before independence between 1870 and 1930. The report also suggested that the country’s railway infrastructure was outdated and unsafe.
The spokesperson for Indian Railways took to Twitter to refute the report as “baseless and devoid of facts”. He said that the report was irresponsible journalism at such a sensitive juncture when the Railways was dealing with the aftermath of the Balasore train accident that killed over 275 people and injured over 900 on June 2.
He also shared the data on the running track kilometres in India, which showed that the track length has nearly doubled since independence. He said that the track length in 1950-51 was 59,315 KMs while it stands at 1,07,832 KMs in 2022-23.
The Balasore train accident, which involved one goods train and two passenger trains, was one of the worst rail disasters in India’s history.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it have been identified. He said that the accident took place due to a change in electronic interlocking, which had nothing to do with the absence of the Kavach anti-collision system.
The CBI has taken over the probe into the accident from the GRP and has visited the spot at Bahanaga station for inspection. The investigation is being conducted by a 10-member CBI team along with some Central Forensic Science Laboratory members.
The Times of India report had raised questions on the safety and modernisation of Indian Railways, which has seen a significant improvement in safety standards since the Modi government took office in 2014. The report had no factual basis for its claims and was rejected by Indian Railways as baseless.