Title - Railways to mop up Rs 4 crore from sale of derailed bogies

All the 11 coaches of the Muzaffarpur-Yesvantpur Express, which derailed at Chitheri near Arakkonam on Wednesday, would be dumped in scrap, highly-placed sources with the Railways told Express.

However, the Railways would still recover around Rs 55 lakh by disposing of the scrap that includes seven sleeper and four air-conditioned coaches. 

“The derailment has badly damaged 11 compartments of the Muzaffarpur-Yesvantpur Express train attached to the East Central Railway. The coaches would be sold as scrap through e-auction,” sources said. “Through this, the Railways would recover around Rs 5 lakh from every damaged compartment,” they added.

Besides, the Railways would also claim Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh as compensation for every damaged coach.

In total, the Railways is likely to recover around Rs 4 crore from the damaged coaches, though `11.5 crore was spent towards building these bogies. While Rs 1.5 crore is spent for manufacturing an air-conditioned bogie, every sleeper coach costs Rs 75 lakh.

“Above all, the Indian Railways has to shell out a few crores for making 11 new coaches to replace the damaged ones. In general, the coaches have a life span of 10 to 15 years,” an official claimed.

Meanwhile, the Railway authorities have re-laid 200 metres of tracks on the Arakkonam-Katpadi section that were damaged in the derailment. A trade union source claimed that Rs 2 crore is spent on laying one km of rail track that comprises rails, sleeper, ballast and signal poles.