A fund namely ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ (RRSK) has been created in 2017-18 with a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore over a period of five years for critical safety related works. Accordingly, a provision of ₹20,000 crore has been made in Budget Estimates and Revised Estimate, 2017-2018 out of ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ to fund essential works for ensuring safety.

The details of works to be executed through Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) have been summarized as under: –

Summary of RRSK works identified
(1)	Civil Engineering Works
	(including Track works, Bridge rehabilitation, Vehicular ultrasound testing system for rail/welds, broken rail detection system, adoption of flash butt welds & weld quality improvement etc)
(2)	Safety works at Level Crossings
	(including elimination of LC/ROB/RUB/Subways etc)
(3)	S&T Works
	(including Train Protection & Warning System, Train Collision Avoidance System, up- gradation of standard of interlocking, replacement of overaged signalling gears by electrical/electronic interlocking etc)
(4)	Mechanical Engineering
	(including Freight Design & Maintenance, Coach Design & Maintenance, Diesel Locomotive maintenance, Crew Management and Disaster management)
(5)	Electrical Engineering
	(Replacement of overaged traction distribution assets, conversion of unregulated OHE to regulated OHE, replacement of masts/portals, replacement of transformers, cables, earthing, panels, wiring etc)
(6)	Human Resource Development

 

The above works of asset replacement are targeted for liquidation in a period of five years. Outlay of the ₹20,000 crore has been allocated in Budget Estimates 2018-19 also.

Safety is accorded the highest priority by Indian Railways and all possible steps are undertaken on a continual basis including upgradation of technology to aid safe running of trains. These include replacement of over-aged assets, elimination of unmanned level crossings, adoption of suitable technologies for upgradation and maintenance of track, rolling stock, signalling and interlocking systems, safety drives, greater emphasis on training of officials and inspections at regular intervals to monitor and educate staff for observance of safe practices.

As a safety culture a well established safety management systems is existing which identifies Safety hazards and unsafe practices in the railway operation so that corrective action can be initiated much before occurrence of a disaster. Instructions have been issued from time to time to inculcate safety habits amongst all railway employees.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Railways Shri Rajen Gohain in

a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

 

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