The track where an Indian train derailed on Sunday, killing 150 people, was inspected just two days earlier and found to be in good condition, raising more questions about the safety of a network seeking $17 billion in funding to prevent more crashes. The derailment, among India's worst train tragedies, was a stark reminder of the dilapidated condition of the vast state-run railways and of the challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces in fulfilling his promise to modernize them. Officials believe a rail fracture may have sent 14 carriages crumpling into each other as most of the 1,700-odd passengers on board slept. But they cannot be sure until each section of damaged track is analyzed. "This was an accident where all of the rails were uprooted and broken. It's very complicated," Mohammad Jamshed, a senior railways ministry official, said. Built under British rule, the world's fourth largest rail network ferries 23 million people across India every day. With people regularly clinging precariously to the outside of carriages or crammed on the roof, it is groaning under growing demand and decades of underinvestment. Modi, who has a deep attachment to the railways having started out selling tea at a station, last year announced a record 8.5 trillion rupees ($124 billion) five-year investment plan to bring the network into the 21st century. The government has focused on building new lines at crunch points and expanding the network into remote areas, and says it has nearly doubled the amount spent on safety. Accidents, however, are rising, with 80 reported this financial year to Nov. 15 from 69 during the same period last year. India recorded 27,581 railway deaths in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, with most victims falling from, or being struck by, moving trains. "The railways need a new approach to looking at safety. They are getting stretched by the new lines and capacity increases," G. Raghuram, a railways expert at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, said. The railways wrote to the finance ministry on Monday to request about 1.19 trillion rupees ($17.4 billion) for a five-year ring-fenced safety fund to upgrade tracks, build bridges and install newer signaling gear, a senior railway ministry official said. The request repeats one made in early 2016 by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu that the finance ministry rejected on the grounds that the railways had already been allocated record funds for investment. "In light of the tragedy, we are hoping they can help," the senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Fares are highly subsided to help poor people travel, and money earned from freight is used to fund passenger services. But that has meant that more than 90 percent of the railways revenues are spent on operating costs, leaving little for its own investment. — Reuters
