Prioritise safety of railway passengers

The train tragedy in Balasore district in Orissa involving two super fast trains and a goods train, which took the lives of over 275 people and injured about 1,000 others, has shocked the nation, and has again raised questions about railway safety. While theories and opinions differ, what happened was that the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express hit a goods train on a loop line and its derailed bogies were run over by the speeding Bengaluru-Howrah Express within a few minutes.

So many lives were crushed under the mangled metal of the three trains. Many families have been orphaned, and it will take years, if all, for the survivors to get over their trauma. The Balasore tragedy is the worst in three decades, and has seriously dented the credibility of the Railways which is committed to providing safe travel for millions of people every day.

While investigations are ongoing and it will take some time for the authorities to pinpoint the exact cause, it is assumed that a fault in the signalling system led to the crash. Was the fault completely mechanical or was it triggered by human error? It is strange that a super fast train entered a loop line where there was another train, and stranger that no warnings were available for yet another train speeding towards it.

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Sadly, the failure of safety systems comes to light only when an accident occurs, and the lapses are forgotten till the next accident. The much touted indigenously made Kavach, which helps avert collisions, has been installed only for about 1,500 km of 70,000 km. A lot of infrastructure has been upgraded and improved, but, on the other hand, even promises about time-bound projects have not been fulfilled.

It has been reported that only Rs 1.9 lakh crore of the Rs 2.15 lakh crore allocated for railway safety in 2021-22 was actually spent. The best technology is not utilised, and there are lakhs of vacancies at all levels. Also, skill development is largely ignored. Most of the recommendations of the 2012 Kakodkar Committee and the proposal for an independent railway safety agency are yet to be implemented.

India has the fourth largest rail network in the world but tops in the number of accidents and casualties. The government and the railway authorities are strong on publicity and propaganda but have been short on performance.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has other important portfolios under his charge, and that shows the importance the ministry gets. It is fine to claim credit for showpieces like Vande Bharat, but Indian Railways’ basic responsibility is to ensure safe travel in every train that it runs.