Before Starting the Bullet Train, it is necessary to improve the Basic Facilities

The Safety of Railway Passengers should be our First Priority

• Anand Madhab

It is one of the greatest ironies that on one hand we are trying to start bullet trains, insisting on increasing the number of high-speed trains like Vande Bharat, while on the other hand we are unable to gather the necessary resources for the maintenance of tracks.

Indian Railways - An Introduction: Indian Railways is the fourth largest rail network in the world. Railways are called the ‘Lifeline of India’. The total length of railways in India is 1,15,000 kms. Indian Railways carries about 2 crore 31 lakh passengers (almost equal to the population of the whole country of Australia) and 33 lakh tons of goods on a daily basis. Owned by the Indian Railways, the Indian Railways has 12,147 locomotives, 74,003 passenger coaches and 2,89,185 wagons and runs a total of 13,523 trains daily along with 8,702 passenger trains. Indian Railways has 300 railway yards, 2,300 freight and 700 repair centres. With 12.27 lakh employees, Indian Railways is the eighth largest commercial entity in the world.

Yet another train accident in the country has raised a big question on the safety of railways. Recently on July 18th, a train accident took place in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh. The coaches of Dibrugarh Express going from Chandigarh to Dibrugarh got derailed in which four people are reported dead and more than a dozen people were injured. Commenting on this, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Shri Rahul Gandhi said, “The frequent train accidents are very worrying and this is the result of the mismanagement and negligence of the government. This also becomes clear from the discussion held with the loco pilots a few days ago and the report of the Railway Safety Commissioner on the recent train accidents.”

Many railway accidents have happened so far during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government between 2014 and 2024. The major railway accidents are:

1. Kanpur train accident: On November 20, 2016, Indore-Patna Express got derailed in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. When the train got derailed, it was moving at a very high speed and 150 people died in this accident.
2. Kuneru train accident: On January 21, 2017, Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express got derailed near Kuneru station in Andhra Pradesh. 41 people died in this accident.
3. Katholi train accident: On August 19, 2017, Kalinga Utkal Express got derailed near Katholi in Uttar Pradesh. 23 people died in this accident. This accident happened due to a fault in the track. The track was not maintained properly.
4. Maharashtra train accident: On October 16, 2020, Hyderabad-Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Express and Hazur Sahib Nanded-Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Rajdhani Special collided near Karmad in Maharashtra. 16 people died in this accident.
5. Alipurduar train accident: On January 13, 2022, 12 coaches of Bikaner-Guwahati Express got derailed. This accident took place in Alipurduar, West Bengal. In this, 9 people died and 36 people were injured.
6. Balasore train accident: On June 2, 2023, a horrific train accident took place in Balasore, Odisha, in which coaches of three trains collided and 296 people died. More than 1,200 people were injured. Here the Coromandel Express was supposed to go on the up main line but was mistakenly switched to the adjacent up loop line. This caused it to collide with a standing freight train and 21 of its coaches got derailed. Three of these coaches fell on the adjacent track and collided with the rear of the 12,864 SMVT Bengaluru-Howrah Express which was crossing the station at the same time.
7. Buxar train accident: On October 11 this year, the coaches of the North East Express going from Delhi to Kamakhya got derailed near Raghunathpur station in Buxar, Bihar. 4 people died and more than 100 people were injured in this accident.
8. Vijayanagaram train accident: On October 29, 2023, a special passenger train going from Visakha to Palasa stopped on the tracks at Alamanda-Kantakapalli in Kothavalasa division due to lack of signal. At the same time, the Visakha-Rayagada train coming behind it collided with the passenger train. 8 people died in this accident.
9. Madurai train accident: On August 26, 2023, a train going from Lucknow to Rameshwaram caught fire near Madurai railway station in Tamil Nadu. 10 people were burnt to death in this accident. It was told by the railway that the coach which caught fire was a private coach which was attached separately to the train and the fire broke out due to the presence of a gas cylinder in the coach.

10. Jalpaiguri train accident: In this accident that happened on June 17, 2024, a goods train collided from behind with the already standing Kanchenjunga Express. 8 people have died in this accident and more than 40 people are injured.

On July 21, 2024, three coaches of a goods train going from Alwar Goods Station on Mathura track of Alwar city to Rewari got derailed on Mathura track, due to which trains running on Mathura Alwar track have been affected. After every accident, an investigation is done and before the investigation is completed, another incident occurs.

It is not that there were no rail accidents during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, but why is the present government, which boasts about railway safety and talks big about safety shields (anti-collision device shields), not able to curb these accidents? For the past several years, exaggerated claims are being made to make rail services safe, beautiful and convenient, but no concrete arrangements are being made to deal with the challenge of rail accidents.

Expenditure on Railways: The present government is increasing expenditure in the name of security of railways. A budget of Rs. 1,78,012 crores has been allocated for railways in the Modi government. That is, an average of Rs. 17,801 crores has been spent every year, which is two and a half times more than before 2014. Between 2004 and 2014, a budget of Rs. 70,273 crores was given for railways. On the other hand, an average of Rs. 10,201 crores has been spent every year between the financial year 2015 and 2023 on the improvement and repair of tracks. Whereas between the financial year 2005 and 2014, an average of Rs. 4,702 crores was spent every year. There are basically two causes of railway accidents-

1. Human error and
2. Technical error or failure.

The immediate main causes of railway accidents are derailment of train coaches, collision with other trains coming from the other side, collision with railway debris, explosion in the train or machine related errors, railway signals not working properly etc.

Basically, the driver, guard and section controller have a big responsibility to prevent a railway accident. Even a slightest mistake from their side can cause a serious accident. Signal crossing at risk is an accident. The driver, guard and section controller are solely responsible for this. An average area of 40 kilometres comes under a section controller. It is very important for the driver, guard and section controller to remain stress-free. Is today’s Railway Ministry capable of keeping them stress-free?

An initiative was taken to create a ‘National Rail Fund’ for various levels of improvement in rail tracks, signal systems and engines, their maintenance and their renewal and upgradation. But the main reason for all the rail accidents in this country is the shortcomings present on this front, which are not corrected in time. According to a government information, last year, to eliminate accidents caused due to human failures, electrical and electronic systems with centralized operation of signals and points have been arranged at 6,427 railway stations. But the truth is that despite the announcements of continuous efforts to modernize and improve the rail services in the country, the government is not able to control rail accidents, which is a matter of serious concern. There is excessive load on our railway system. The reason for this is the use of old technology or non-quick implementation of new technology and delay in fully implementing new technology. Understand the ground reality while starting new trains, which affects the capacity of the tracks and lines and puts a strain on the system. We are starting high speed trains like ‘Vande Bharat’ without thinking whether we are ready for it, whether our tracks are ready, whether we have sufficient manpower, whether they have sufficient training? The terrible accident of three trains colliding with each other in Balasore was initially blamed on mechanical faults and human errors. Obviously, along with the arrangement of resources, there is a need to ensure the necessary training and alertness for its use. More than 2,50,000 posts are lying vacant in the railways. That will also have an impact on the system. On talking to a retired senior railway officer, he told that the maintenance of tracks is very important for the railways. ‘Vande Bharat’ and goods trains also run on the same tracks. There is no similarity in speed or weight. Railway employees also remain stressed due to workload and it is natural to commit mistakes under stress. According to a government railway safety report, 70 percent of the rail accidents in India are mostly due to derailment of train coaches. After this, incidents of train fire and collision between two trains have been reported in train accidents, which are 14 percent and 8 percent of the total accidents respectively. We tend to forget that railways is a serious business, but perhaps the government is taking it lightly. The current Railway Minister of the Government of India has many other ministries in addition to the Railway Ministry. Due to which our Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav ji is an overloaded minister and perhaps is not able to give his full attention to the Railway Ministry. The Railway Ministry is a huge ministry in itself which remains neglected. This is the reason why disconnection between the ministry and the department and the board is often seen. The cries of the families of the dead and injured from Balasore to Gonda should reach the ears of the government and there should be a concrete solution to prevent rail accidents. We are not asking you to become Lal Bahadur Shastri, we are only pleading for the safety of railway passengers.

While writing this, another rail accident happened. In Jharkhand, the Howrah-Mumbai train hit a derailed goods train near Podobeda village between Badabambo Rajkharsawan station in Chakradharpur Railway Division. 2 passengers died and more than 70 people got injured in the accident. Who knows, by the time this is published, some more rail accidents might happen! Regarding the continuous rail accidents, Rashtriya Janata Dal President Shri Lalu Prasad said that ‘railway coaches have become moving coffins’, while Rajya Sabha member Dr. Akhilesh Prasad Singh has demanded resignation from Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav.

(The author is the spokesperson of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee and Chairman of the Research Department)