Parliamentary panel asks railways to expedite action taken reports on railway accidents

A Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended that Railway Board should expeditiously submit its Action Taken Reports about the railway accidents and a fixed time frame should be stipulated for fixed responsibility against the guilty.

The Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture in its action-taken report on the subject of the Commission of Railway Safety said that there should be a fixed time frame for submission of Action Taken Reports (ATRs) by the Railway Board as well, in order to make the process of investigating the causes of the accident and taking effective measures to avoid the recurrence of such accidents and the resultant loss to property and human lives.

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The Committee headed by Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy in its report tabled in Parliament also expressed its concern that 15 ATRs are still pending in the Railway Board from the Ministry of Railway with the oldest accident being of the year 2013-14. The Committee is of the opinion that such an inordinate delay in submission of ATRs makes the whole effort of accident investigations fruitless. The Committee, therefore, feels that there is an urgent need to streamline the procedure of submitting ATRs to the Commission by Railway Board.

The committee suggested that the autonomy of the Commission of Railway Safety needs to be maintained by way of consultation by the Ministry of Railways (MoR) with the Commission while making changes in those chapters of the Indian Railways Act/Manuals etc which pertain to the Commission’s work. The Committee, therefore, recommended that the valid suggestion of MoR may be examined and a mechanism may be adopted in coordination with the MoR to implement the same, said the panel.

The committee said that the Railways should avoid unilateral changes in Rules, Codes and Manuals which affect railway safety without consulting the Commission of Railway Safety.