Context
The corpus will be used to improve tracks and for bridge rehabilitation work
What has happened?
The Finance Ministry has agreed to contribute partially to a new dedicated railway safety fund in the upcoming Budget to be presented on February 1
Backdrop
The Railways had asked for ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ to be set up based on the recommendations of a high-level safety review committee under former chairman Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Anil Kakodkar
- The Committee, which submitted its report in 2012, had projected an investment requirement of Rs. 1 lakh crore on safety over five years. The Centre has so far fully implemented 22 out of 87 partially or fully accepted recommendations made by the panel.
Funding distribution
Total corpus for the fund: Rs. 1.19 lakh crore
- Initial proposed contribution from central government over 5 years: Rs 20000 crore
- Contribution from central government as now
- Finance Ministry: Rs 5000 Crore
- Contribution from Central Road Fund (CRF): Rs 10000 crore
- Railways will have to fund: Rs 5000 Crore
How will railway manage the additional burden?
In the light of additional burden of Rs 5000 crore, railway might bring back the cess on rail tickets to finance its share of Rail Safety Fund or look to fund it from non-budgetary resources
Special Railway Safety Fund
In 2001, when a Special Railway Safety Fund of Rs. 17,000 crore was created, the Railways raised Rs. 5,000 crore through safety surcharge on passenger fare and the remaining Rs. 12,000 crore came from the Finance Ministry.
