RailEnquiry

KOLKATA: A team of auditors from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India will travel on select trains originating and terminating at Sealdah and Howrah stations to ascertain whether their introduction was at all necessary.Nearly all these trains were introduced by Mamata Banerjee during her tenure as railway minister between 2009 and May 2011. According to sources in the CAG, this exercise is part of a thematic review on 'Introduction of New Trains'. The purpose of the review is to find out exactly how popular these trains are."Our auditors will not only travel on these trains, they will also take photographs of the coaches to establish their findings. We have already asked the respective railway zones to make the arrangements to ensure that the auditors are not harassed," a CAG source said.To start with the auditors will carry out inspections on 10 pairs of trains under Eastern Railway. These are the 13051/52 Howrah-Siuri Hool Express, 13421/22 Nabadwip Dham - New Farakka Express, 13053/54 Howrah - Siuri Express, 13117/18 Kolkata - Behrampore Court Express, 13027/28 Kavi Guru Express between Kolkata and Azimgunj, 12273/74 Howrah - New Delhi Duronto Express, 11105/06 Pratham Swatantrata Sangram Express between Kolkata and Jhansi, 12357/58 Kolkata - Amritsar Superfast Express, 12249/50 Kolkata - New Delhi Yuva Express and the 13147/48 Uttar Banga Express between Sealdah and New Cooch Behar.

Save for the Pratham Swatantrata Sangram Express, all the other trains were introduced by Mamata Banerjee.

Sources say that the review was planned after the CAG received reports that several new trains are being introduced as populist measures without augmenting infrastructure. According to some experts, this is one of the causes for the increase in the number of accidents. Not only is existing infrastructure being over-utilised, there is also lack of proper maintenance of tracks and rolling stock.

One of the main recommendations made by the high-powered committee under Anil Kakodkar set up by the railways in 2011, was to stop the introduction of new trains for the next five years and concentrate instead on augmentation of infrastructure. The report had made it clear that existing infrastructure is being over utilized. Senior railway officials in Delhi said that they are aware of the audit. They also agreed that many of the trains introduced in the recent past are not receiving sufficient patronage, except during special occasions like festivals and vacations.