New Delhi | The Southern Railways compromised passengers' safety by introducing deficient coaches to serve as special train in the Nilgiri Mountain section in July 2023 without any approval from the ministry, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in its report tabled in the parliament on Monday.
"Ministry of Railways may develop a robust mechanism for development of prototype coaches in consultation with RDSO and only after successful trial run, regular production of coaches should be started to avoid creation of ineffective and deficient coaches," the CAG said in its recommendations and observed that it didn't get any reply from the ministry on the said issue.
The full report contained 25 audit findings from various railway zones across the country and pointed out cases of undercharges or overpayments of Rs 543.17 crore.
One of the audit findings with regard to the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) under Southern Railways (SR) has not only pointed out financial deficiency worth Rs 27.91 crore but also highlighted how "Railway's improper decision which is in the nature of compromising the safety of the passengers by introducing the deficient coaches to serve as Special train without sanction of the Ministry of Railways, is also a serious lapse on the part of the Railways."
The audit said that to replace the 100-year-old 28 coaches, operational between 45.88-km-long Mettupalayam and Udagamandalam stations, SR approached the Railway Ministry in May 2015 to advise Integral Coach Factory (ICF) to design and develop a prototype coach to suit NMR.
The ministry advised ICF in July 2015 to manufacture a prototype coach for NMR in consultation with Research, Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), based on inputs given by SR.
ICF initially manufactured 15 coaches and delivered them to SR after which a trial run was conducted from Mettupalayam to Udagamandalam on April 2, 2019, with the first four coaches.
The report noticed that the trial was not conducted on the section having a gradient.
"SR noticed (March 2020) that there was an increase in weight of the new coaches by around 5 tonnes each and advised ICF to reduce the weight in the remaining 13 coaches yet to be manufactured. However, no action was taken by ICF in this regard and 13 more NMR coaches were manufactured and delivered to SR in three lots," the report said.
It added that in all, 28 NMR coaches were manufactured by ICF and delivered to SR at a total cost of Rs 27.91 crore, but the freezing of the design, layouts and manufacturing of these coaches were done without any consultation with RDSO and also without ascertaining the manufacturing and successful trial of the prototype coach.
The report found that the SR modified six coaches, but even after modification, wheel slip in the locomotive was experienced during the trial run in the gradient section despite the weather being supportive with clear skies and dry weather.
"Despite deficiencies noticed in the trial run, SR introduced weekly special train services from 15/7/2023 between MTP (Mettupalayam) and UAM (Udagamandalam) with the newly manufactured NMR coaches which were put to use in the special trains. Presently (May 2024), 15 out of the total 28 new NMR coaches have been put to use for operation as weekly special trains without approval of the Railway Board," the CAG report said.
It added, "Thus, an imprudent decision was taken to manufacture 28 new NMR coaches without any consultation with RDSO and also without ascertaining the manufacturing and successful trial of the prototype coach despite clear instruction of MoR (July 2015)."
The audit has stated that freezing the design and layout by SR and manufacturing the coaches by ICF without addressing the core issues of weight of the coaches and hauling capacity of the locomotive was also a premature decision, which was attributed to the manufacturing of these deficient coaches.
Hence, the coaches manufactured at a cost of 27.91 crore could not be put to effective use even after the lapse of more than three years of manufacturing, the audit report stated.
It has also expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the Southern Railways, which said that deficiencies noticed during the trial run were advised to ICF for rectification.
"As regards operation of new NMR coaches, it was stated that 18 coaches are being used in weekend/joyride special trains and further service will be improved once sanction is received from the Railway Board," the report said regarding SR responses.
"The reply of the SR Administration was not acceptable. Nothing has been stated in the reply regarding manufacturing of 28 new NMR coaches without any consultation with RDSO and also without ascertaining the manufacturing and successful trial of the prototype coach despite clear
instruction of MoR," the audit said.
It added, "Further it is evident from the reply of the SR administration that the deficient coaches were put to use for operation without obtaining sanction from the Railway Board."
