Railways has suffered a lot as and when there is an incident of protest as witnessed in past few years, some of these include Kisan protest, Jat Reservation issue, in protest of Agni Path Yozna and incidents of throwing stones on moving trains for one reason or the other. Usually, the protestors block railway tracks to stop movement of the trains which cause not only heavy loss to the railways but also cause inconvenience to the travelling passengers generally along with their families forcing them to drop their journey on way to their destination. According to the railway authorities, Railways has suffered loss worth over Rs 1500 crores in past few years during major protests: Kisan Aandolan, Jaat Reservation in Haryana and in protest of Agni Path Yozna which alone suffered loss to the railways for amount worth about 1000 crores in which railway properties were vandalised, torched or attacked from Bihar to West Bengal amid the protests against the Agnipath Scheme.
Indian Railways incurred huge losses in terms of blockage of rail tracks by the protesting farmers recently during four days protest in Punjab as a result the travelling passengers had to suffer but railways had to refund ticket money to the passengers since hundreds of trains were cancelled. which according to railway authorities caused Rs 103 crore loss to railways due to refund of money. Information also reveals that during the Kisan protest in 2121, as many as 1212 dharna protests by the farmer groups were reported caused heavy loss to the railways for amount worth over Rs 22.58 crore which inluded Rs 3.34 loss to the Northern Railways and Rs 6.79 crore loss to the Eastern Railways. With effect from 14th June to 30th June, as many as 3132 trains were cancelled due to protests incurred Rs 103 crore loss to the railways, besides damage to the railway properties.
Similarly, due to protests during year 2019 railways suffered Rs 151 crore loss, in 2020 suffered Rs 904 crore loss, during 2021 suffered Rs 62 crore loss and railways also faced 4233 incidents of throwing stones on running trains between year 2020 to 2022 in which not only the trains were severely damaged but also travelling passengers sustained severe injuries. Amid the mass protests in several parts of the country against the launch of Agnipath Scheme, railway properties were vandalised, torched or attacked from Bihar to Telangana. Indian Railways incurred losses of over Rs 1,000 crore including damage and reimbursement to passengers for ticket cancellations in a few days. The protesters not only damaged railway property and torched dozens of trains, the Railways stated that it had suffered a loss of more than Rs 700 crore in just four days of the protests since more than 60 crore passenger tickets were cancelled.
Information reveals, preparing a general coach costs Rs 80 lakh to railways, while a sleeper coach and an AC coach cost Rs 1.25 crore and Rs 3.5 crore respectively to railways. Similarly, to build one rail engine the government has to spend an amount worth over Rs 20 crore. The 12-coach passenger train costs over Rs 40 crore and the 24-coach train costs upwards of Rs 70 crore.
According to data received from the Ministry of Railways, in 2020-21 the Railways suffered a loss of more than Rs 467.20 crore due to the deteriorating law and order situation and protests. In 2019-20, it had suffered a loss of more than Rs 100 crore. Damage to the railway property is a criminal offense and people can be punished with imprisonment of up to 5 years. A provision has been made for punishment for this in Section 151 of the Railways Act, 1989. Section 151 says that if any person willfully causes damage to any railway property by setting on fire, by means of explosives or by any means, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with a fine, or with both.
