The Odisha train accident has made the Congress party accuse the Modi government of focusing on fancy projects like Vande Bharat trains instead of improving rail safety standards. It has been alleged that the BJP government has failed to spend enough on safety.
However, reports suggest the opposite. A government source has been quoted as saying by Economic Times that the actual trend of expenditure on track renewal on the Indian Railways has increased from Rs 47,039 Cr from 2004 to 2014 to Rs 1,09,023 Cr since Modi became the Prime Minister.
As per a study by the CMIE, the length of track renewals under Modi shows that the figure (measured in kilometers) started gradually increasing from 2015 to reach 4,500 km in 2019-20. "The expenditure on the track renewal saw steady growth from 2017-18 when it was Rs 8,884 Cr to Rs 13,533 Cr in 2020-21. This further increased to Rs 16,558 Cr in 2021-22," writes Rupak Chattopadhyay.
As a result of the focus on renewing railway tracks, accidents halved in the past 10 years.
