But there is reason to fear that much of this funding focuses on flashy projects-not infrastructure maintenance. Since India’s government acknowledged a $1.5 trillion infrastructure deficit in 2016, public spending has ramped up. This tracks with a larger state effort to expand infrastructure financing.

India lavished nearly $30 billion on its railway system during fiscal year 2022 (which ended on March 31), a 15 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. The report found that insufficient funding or government officials’ unwillingness to provide funding to repair tracks contributed to these accidents. Nearly 70 percent of those accidents were caused by old signaling equipment, poor infrastructure, track defects, or human error. India suffered 2,017 train accidents between 20, according to the country’s Comptroller and Auditor General. With so much focus on creating new infrastructure, existing infrastructure may be neglected. With India’s government accelerating an industrial policy push focused on modern infrastructure and intended to attract foreign investment, lingering safety issues-many rooted in old and poorly performing infrastructure-risk being overlooked. But India still experiences deadly accidents, while funding for train safety and infrastructure maintenance has decreased.

Train derailments have also declined significantly since the 1980s. The number of serious train accidents each year fell from more than 300 two decades ago to 22 in fiscal year 2020. However, the train crash is also notable because India’s rail safety has actually improved by a few measures in recent years.

Indian officials say that an electronic signaling error likely caused the tragic accident-one of the deadliest transportation disasters in India’s history. The death toll from last Friday’s train crash in the state of Odisha in eastern India has now reached nearly 300, with hundreds more injured.

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