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The year 2023 witnessed one of the deadliest railways accidents in India — a collision involving two express and a goods train at Balasore in Odisha — resulting in 290-plus deaths.
While, statistically, the safety record of Indian Railways (IR) is improving, including an intervening period of lull with zero death (arguably due to fewer trains running during the Covid-19 pandemic), fatal accidents are on the rise again in recent times.
Collisions and fire mishaps, in particular, are more common.
The induction of KAVACH — an indigenous anti-collision system — has been painfully slow and needs to be expedited.
Equally, the retrograde step of restricting the speed of freight trains must be withdrawn by rectifying the underlying issues with the brakes of the rolling stock.
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Non-induction of engineers over the past few years on account of the shortcomings in the newly adopted Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) recruitment scheme is perhaps shrinking the pool of engineering expertise required on the field.
Transfer of infra creation work from zonal headquarters to divisions, under the GatiShakti scheme, is likely to divert the attention of field officers from ensuring the safe running of trains to tendering and other associated project activities.
During the recent festival season, there were untoward incidents resulting from overcrowding of trains, due likely to the declining availability of unreserved coaches. These coaches are popular among migrant workers on account of low tariffs.
The new promotion policy for top positions is seeing several senior officers continuing to head their respective wings despite being superseded by junior officers, resulting in demoralisation down the line.
Perilous journeys
Besides the infamous Balasore accident on June 2, other deadly accidents in recent times include the collision of two passenger trains in Andhra Pradesh on October 29, leading to 14 deaths; derailment of the North East express near Buxar, in Bihar, in which four died and numerous others sustained injuries; the Mathura EMU train climbing on a station platform on September 26; outbreak of fire on the Humsafar express mid-journey near Valsad on September 23; the Bharat Gaurav train catching fire at Madurai station on August 26; fire outbreak on the Howrah-bound Falaknuma express on July 7; derailments of the Nilgiri mountain railway on June 8, Jan Shatabdi near Chennai on June 9, and a Chennai suburban train near Basin Bridge; and fire on the Lokmanya Tilak express near Vyasarpadi in Chennai.
Higher loading targets, pressure to induct more passenger trains post the pandemic, and an infrastructure creation spree engendering traffic blocks have greatly strained the available resources.
While pockets of IR are overstaffed, there is a shortage in the safety departments.
Drivers work beyond prescribed hours and track patrolling continues to be carried out manually.
Signal change
The Balasore accident brought home the dangers of adopting shortcuts in safety measures and the lack of standard operating procedures (SOP). Works requiring suspension of traffic are undertaken without following an SOP.
The recently introduced rolling block scheme is expected to address this malady by enabling adequate advance planning to implement traffic blocks with minimum disruption and optimal results.
There is an urgent need to enforce measures to prevent fires in trains, and revalidate signalling interlocking to prevent Balasore-type failures.
A renewed emphasis on staff training through the use of simulators and other technological aids are yet another need of the hour.
Field checks and inspections must be carried out in place of the current practice of holding video conferences, which are too numerous and inordinately eat into executives’ working hours.
(The writer is a retired general manager, East Central Railway. Views expressed are personal)
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