Kakodkar heads panel on railway safety
The railway ministry Friday formed a high-level committee, headed by former Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar and including Delhi Metro's E. Sreedharan, to review ''long-term safety needs'' of the national transporter.
The panel will submit its initial report in three months and focus on safety audit and human resource development besides technical aspects of safety.
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said: “The panel will provide independent expert input on improving safety of running trains.”
Sources said the Kalka Mail accident in Uttar Pradesh in July 2011, involving 70 casualties, and the recent collision in Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu in which 10 people were killed, necessitated a “holistic assessment of safety” on the Indian Railways.
The other members of the high level panel are Dr N. Vedachalam of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Sanjay Dhande, director of IIT-Kanpur, and G.P. Srivastava of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
