Focus on safety, at once

Despite repeated assertions by the government that safety is prime in the running of trains, the Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express was involved in an accident near Bachrawan in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district last week killing at least 38 passengers. The accident, sadly, shows the utter lack of commitment and absence of social conscience of those who purport to run the Indian Railways. Is it so difficult to focus on safety and sort out issues so that passengers can look forward to a secure ride? 

After all, we are talking of a mode of transport on which millions travel each day. Instead of trying to eliminate the laxity and the chalta-hai attitude of officials, railway ministers have the gall to stand up in parliament and talk big about bullet trains, hi-tech railway corridors and make highfalutin statements about their commitment to the running of the Indian Railways. Hardly do their saliva dry up before another accident occurs killing a new batch of innocent passengers. When is the hypocrisy going to end? Is the state of the Indian Railways symbolic of the morass that has come to symbolise the country’s work ethic? Don’t officials care about their fellow-countrymen and women who travel on trains trusting the wisdom and efficiency of those who run it?

The Rae Bareli accident is shocking as the suspected cause was brake failure. According to some reports, the loco pilot had alerted officials at two consecutive stations earlier about the faulty brake.  But, they waved him on – to disaster. Wasn’t it incumbent on the officials to halt the train, check the brakes and resolve that before allowing it to move on?  It beats the imagination that officials did not take the loco pilot’s concern seriously.  Ideally, the loco pilot should have refused to run the train unless the brakes were set right. Unfortunately, he did not do so. An inquiry has been set up and it will come up with its findings. But, what is the point? The idea behind an inquiry is that whatever fault is detected that should be sorted out across the length and breadth of the railway network so that it is not repeated anywhere. In other words, officials are expected to learn from past errors and rectify them. Instead, in India, the inquiry reports gather dust, get junked and life goes on as before – with no improvement whatsoever. The Railways must immediately stop all ambitious projects that involve luxury and speed and instead concentrate on the basics involving safety. Only when this is done and accidents stop, can the Railways afford to have an exaggerated vision of their worth.