Safety Issues in Indian Railways
Over the last 10 years, there has been a substantial rise in the rate of passenger casualties. For the three decades of 1965-96, the number of deaths in accidents remained mostly under 100, except for the occasional bad year. During the last decade things have turned grim. In nine out of the 10 years since 2003-04, there have been over 100 deaths due to accidents; in six of these years it has been over 200, and in three over 300.
A lot of accidents involve derailments, collisions between trains and mishaps at level crossings. For Instance: There are 30,348 level crossings (18,785 manned and 11,563 unmanned) in India. An estimated 43 per cent of accidents and 67 per cent of deaths were because of these in 2012-13. Ideally, level crossings should be done away with entirely. If the TVU (train vehicle unit), the product of
the average number of trains and vehicles that pass through a level crossing during a 24-hour period, is low, the level crossing should be closed and merged with a nearby one. If the TVU is high, the level crossing should be replaced by a road under-bridge (RUB), road over-bridge (ROB) or subway. But nothing significant has been done in this respect. Till hundred percent safety measures are taken, Railway Board should explore the use of Geo-spatial technologies which combine Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing to make Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs) safer for road users thereby avoiding accidents threats.
Further, for many years now there has been talk about increased use of non-combustible and non-inflammable materials in railway coaches. The Railways took a policy decision to make the shift, and coach production units were asked to go in for fire-retardant material. But this is obviously a slow process and new coaches could be made with them. The problem persists with the old coaches still in use. A major drive to check passengers carrying stoves or inflammable materials was launched, and met with some success. Two other major sources of fire incidents relate to overheating wheels and electrical short circuit. With advances in technology, it should be possible for the Indian Railways to detect such hazards in time to prevent a fire. Smoke detectors and circuit breakers have become commonplace and can easily be installed in trains. It is anybody’s guess whether all trains have operational fire extinguishers and if every railway station is equipped to fight fires. Several inquiries and Commission reports have pointed to gaps in safety measures and suggested follow-up action. The Kakodkar committee on safety last year pointed to an “implementation bug” and recommended a massive Rs.1 lakh crore programme over five years to ensure complete safety on the wheels. It suggested an allocation of Rs.20,000 crore a year, which can also be generated by means of a safety cess on passengers. The Railways should take the issue of safety much more seriously, and look at this and other ways of funding the required measures.
