Railway Board appoints panel to study speed restrictions violations

New Delhi: With the increasing incidents of train drivers violating speed restrictions at various points between originating and destination stations, the Railway Board has set up a committee to find out the reasons.

The railway board-appointed panel already held one round of meetings with loco pilots and train managers (guards) through video conferencing.

"The committee will look into the suggestions and deliberate to decide if there is a need to amend the operation norms concerning speed restrictions in the interest of safe train operations," said an official in the  Railway Board.

The board decided to appoint a panel after recent incidents in which two train drivers violated the speed restriction of 20 kmph at a river bridge that was under maintenance and drove their trains at 120 kmph speed.

In a recent incident, the loco pilot and assistant loco pilot of the Gatiman Express, India's first semi-high-speed train, which runs at 160 kmph speed between Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi and Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Junction in Uttar Pradesh, violated the advisory speed restriction between Jajau and Mania railway station near Agra Cantt.

Following this incident, the drivers of Malwa Express, which runs between Katra (Jammu) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh), too committed a similar violation at the same spot and steered the train at 120 kmph.

The railways imposes speed restrictions on certain sections of tracks for the safe operation of the trains for various reasons, including ongoing track repair work, old railway bridges, and station yard remodelling.

The loco pilots and their assistants obtain a complete route chart along with advisories and cautionary speed limits from the concerned operating department and they are supposed to maintain the speed accordingly.