NEW DELHI: The railways may need to revisit the issue of setting up of diesel locomotive manufacturing units and examine whether it is prudent to create assets and infrastructure for which it may have no useful requirement in future, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said.

The national auditor said the need for high power diesel traction in the railways is going to diminish in the years to come as the state transporter is planning to shift to complete electrification of broad gauge routes by 2021.

“As such, the diesel locomotives procured under this agreement would have no scope for productive utilisation in the Indian Railway network in future.

Railways themselves have decided to significantly reduce in-house production of diesel locomotives at Diesel Locomotive Works , Varanasi, from 2019-20 onwards,” the CAG report said.

“Thus, setting up of a new infrastructure for production of diesel locomotives and incurring a huge liability of Rs 17,126.08 crore is not in sync with the overall strategic vision of the railways,” the report said.

