The large manpower shortage in security forces shows the "low priority" that Railways gives to security despite heightened terror threats, the CAG said. "Low priority attached to security is reflected by the fact that per passenger expenditure on security is only Rs 2.86," it said.

The manpower shortage is to the extent of 13.16 per cent in security forces but both Railways and state governments did not "respond promptly in filling up the existing vacancies for meeting challenges of increased security threat", it said. Railways was also reluctant to outsource security even in non-core areas to private agencies while the existing training facilities were frequently under-utilised, it added.

The CAG has stressed on bringing about a "paradigm shift" in Railways' attitude towards security management.

"A test check in audit revealed that 30 per cent of the authorised entry points on 74 stations checked in the audit were not guarded by security personnel. Further installation of state-of-art electronic surveillance system has been slow and not up to international standard," it said.

Observing that crime against passengers have increased by 15 per cent during the last five years, the CAG said handling of passenger-related crime in moving train is "not effective" as the jurisdiction of occurrence is not identifiable leading to problem in registration of cases.