Tracks of Blood: Inside the Truth About Railway Contract Scams and Safety Budget Corruption

Introduction:

Every time a train derails or a passenger dies, the headlines fade within days. Beneath the twisted metal and grieving families lies a deeper truth. It is the corruption that bleeds India’s railway safety budget dry. From shady contractor deals to diverted funds, this isn’t just about broken tracks it’s about a broken system.

Crores Allocated, Lives Forgotten

• Railway safety budgets have been increased on paper. However, ground audits often reveal two issues. Funds remain unutilised or are misused.

• In the last five years, the Centre allocated thousands of crores for track upgrades, signal modernization, and passenger safety under schemes like:

• Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) – ₹1 lakh crore corpus announced in 2017.

• However, a CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report in 2022 noted that only 79% of funds were used. Many projects were delayed or abandoned.

• In 2023, The Hindu and Indian Express highlighted the under-utilization of funds in critical zones. These include areas like Eastern and South-Central Railways, which have high accident rates.

The Contractor Cartel: Inflated Bills, Real Bodies

• Railway maintenance often depends on contractors, not regular railway staff.

• Multiple investigations (like by The Wire and Outlook India) have exposed that:

• Contractors inflate repair bills, submit fake inspection records, and use substandard materials.

• There’s often no real-time quality check—just signatures, often forged or secured through bribes.

• In one 2020 case from Bihar, ₹18 crore was billed for track repairs. Despite this, the line derailed twice a year. Later probes revealed fake invoices and political protection.

Ignored Until Death: The Missing Safety Net

• Indian Railways is supposed to follow strict safety audits under the General and Subsidiary Rules.

• But reports show:

• Over 1,500 unmanned level crossings still existed till 2021, despite full budget allocation to remove them.

• Fire safety drills, brake inspections, and track alignment audits are either delayed or falsified.

• During the Balasore triple train accident (2023), the CRS (Commission of Railway Safety) investigated the situation. They determined that electronic signal tampering was involved. However, routine audits had ignored the warning signs.

Bullet Trains for Some, Death Trains for Others

• While basic safety issues remain unaddressed, massive funds are funneled into headline-friendly projects like:

• The Ahmedabad–Mumbai Bullet Train (₹1.08 lakh crore).

• Vande Bharat Express upgrades some routes running below full speed due to poor track quality.

• Yet, in areas like Mumbra, Sion, Kurla, and Kalyan, broken platforms and cracked tracks are still present. In many areas, manual signaling still persists—leading to preventable deaths almost every day.

Voices Crushed, Files Buried

• Railway engineers and RTI activists have tried exposing these failures:

• In 2019, a Northern Railway engineer was transferred after filing complaints about substandard ballast stones used in track laying.

• RTI activist S. Pandian revealed ₹46 crore spent on a bridge in Tamil Nadu that never got approved. He later faced threats and FIRs.

• Many such reports are buried quietly, with no criminal accountability.

The Human Cost: Numbers That Hurt

• Between 2014 and 2023:

• Over 10,000 passengers died in train-related incidents (official NCRB and Railway data).

• Most common causes: falls from overcrowded trains, derailments, fire accidents, and stampedes on bridges.

• Survivors and families rarely get full compensation cases stretch for years in tribunals while the guilty contractors walk free.

Conclusion: Blood on the Tracks, Silence in the Files

These are not just accidents. These are institutional killings—not by weapons, but by neglect, corruption, and apathy. While the government showcases bullet trains in advertisements, people die every day on broken tracks and rusty bridges. Until the railway system is held accountable from top to bottom, these deaths will never stop.

Sources (Verified)

1. CAG Audit on Railway Safety Funds (2022) – The Hindu

2. Indian Express – Rail Safety Budget Usage Reports, 2022–2023

3. The Wire – Contractor Corruption in Indian Railways, 2020

4. Outlook India – Railway Tender Scam in Bihar, 2020

5. CRS Report on Balasore Train Accident (2023) – Ministry of Railways

6. NCRB Railway Death Data 2014–2023

7. RTI Activists & Whistleblower Case Reports – Scroll.in, Hindustan Times

Disclaimer:

This article is based on publicly available news reports, RTI data, CAG audits, and railway commission findings. While every effort has been made to verify the facts, some case investigations are ongoing. Names of individuals and companies involved in pending cases have been withheld to avoid legal conflicts.