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NEW DELHI: Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged 2,961 annual failures in signalling system in the South Western Railway (SWR) in a recent report and has sought more effective maintenance mechanisms to prevent these occurrences, which is key to prevent accidents. It has also flagged irregular maintenance practices and has also raised concerns over repetitive non-complance.The audit examined the performance of the signal and telecommunication (S&T) department of three divisions, Hubballi, Bengaluru and Mysuru, of SWR during the period from 2018-19 to 2022-23. The CAG report tabled in Parliament added that though the cases of accidents in the zone are declining, cases of ‘Signal Passing At Danger or red signal jump’ (SPAD) and wrong interlocking of points which can divert trains to lines already occupied by other trains are a cause for concern.”Safety audit had also pointed out several irregular maintenance practices. Most of the observations were repetitive which suggests that constant monitoring was absent,” the report said. “There were several instances of abnormal delays in attending to deficiencies pointed out during inspections/ joint inspections by the safety department,” the report stated.
