Rail Safety in India

IN NEWS:

• As the government pushes for railway modernization, the Odisha rail tragedy raises safety questions.

STATISTICS:

• According to a 2022 report published by the National Crime Records Bureau, from 2017 to 2021, there were more than 100,000 train-related deaths in India.
• Official data also suggests derailments are the most common form of rail accident in India but have been on the decline in recent years.
• According to the Comptroller and Auditor General, Indian Railways recorded 2,017 accidents from 2017 to 2021, and derailments accounted for 69% of the accidents.

FACTORS THAT CHALLENGE RAIL SAFETY IN THE COUNTRY:

• Reduced spending on activities related to safety:
  • A Parliamentary Standing Committee report in March 2023 observed that appropriations to the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) fund, which was created in 2017-18 with a corpus of Rs. 1 lakh crore to provide financial support for critical safety-related works and to curb accidents, have been falling short ever since it was introduced.
  • Also, in the Union Budget 2023–24 the Railways received a record allocation of Rs. 2.40 lakh crore, but the capital expenditure on crucial activities related to safety such as track renewal, signalling, and telecom has dwindled or stagnated over the last few years.
  • For instance, allocation for track renewal dipped to 7.2%, and expenditure proposed for signalling remained at 1.7% in FY24 when considered as a share of budgetary support for capital expenditure.
• Manpower shortages:
  • The Railway Board recently raised the issue of loco pilots being deployed over and above their prescribed working hours, resulting in a threat to the safety of train operations.
  • The prolonged working hours of loco pilots due to an acute shortage of manpower were suspected to be the main reason for the increasing number of accidents, particularly Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD) cases, though there were other causes as well.
    • A signal is passed at danger (SPAD) when a train passes a stop signal when not allowed to do so. SPADs are one of the potential precursors to railway accidents.
• Railway lines are severely congested:
  • In one of its reports, the Standing Committee on Railways noted that the slow expansion of rail networks has put undue burden on the existing infrastructure, leading to severe congestion and safety compromises. Since independence, while the railways’ route kilometres have increased by 23%, passenger and freight traffic over the railway network has increased by 1,344% and 1,642%, respectively.
  • Also, data from the Indian Railways’ National Rail Plan 2020 show that 80% of tracks on high density networks (HDN) are overburdened—that is, they are running at over 100% capacity. The HDN routes connect five major centres: Chennai, Kolkata (Howrah), Mumbai, Delhi, and Guwahati. They comprise 16% of the total railway network and transport 41% of the total traffic.
• Lack of proper inspection and maintenance of tracks:
  • Most of the derailment accidents were attributed to the engineering department, with the maintenance of tracks emerging as the major factor in the accidents.
  • For instance, a CAG report in 2022 found that there was a 30-100 percent shortfall in inspections of the structural and geometrical condition of tracks by track recording cars. The in-built monitoring mechanism of Track Management System, a web-based application for tracking maintenance activities, was also found to be non-operational.
• Lapses on the part of railway staff:
  • The Standing Committee on Railways, when examining safety and security in the railways, noted that lapses on the part of railway staff are one of the major causes of accidents.
  • Such lapses include carelessness in working, poor maintenance work, the adoption of shortcuts, and the non-observance of laid-down safety rules and procedures.
  • The committee had recommended that a regular refresher course for each category of railway staff be conducted.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES:

• LHB coaches
  • Indian Railways has decided for large scale proliferation of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches which are technologically superior.
  • German technology-based LHB coaches have a better safety record than ICF- design coaches.

• 'KAVACH' System:
  • Indian Railways (IR) has indigenously developed an automatic train protection system rechristened as ‘Kavach’ (Train Collision Avoidance System).
• Provision of Electronic Interlocking (EI) to increase Safety and Flexibility:
  • Electronic Interlockings are being adopted on a large scale to derive benefits of digital technologies in train operation and to enhance safety.
• Rashtriya Rail SanrakshaKosh (RRSK):
  • A special railway safety fund named Rashtriya Rail SanrakshaKosh (RRSK) was created in the year 2017-18 with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore for a period of 5 years for critical safety related works.
• Elimination of Unmanned Level Crossing:
  • In order to save loss of precious human lives in accidents at unmanned level crossings, Indian Railways were progressively eliminating unmanned level crossings.
• Centre of Excellence for Modern Signaling:
  • The “Centre of Excellence” for Modern Signaling has been set up at Secunderabad with prime objective to provide expertise and technical inputs through competence building, Research, Design and Standard.

WAY FORWARD:

• Recommendations of the CAG report:
  • In its recommendations for Indian Railways, the CAG report on derailment in Indian Railways noted that it should ensure timely implementation of track maintenance activities by using improved technologies.
  • The report also added that the funds under RRKS should be deployed for meeting the requirements of high-priority works.
• Build more lines and increase speed:
  • Experts suggest that the Railways would need to prioritise building more lines and increasing speed, thus enhancing the capacity of the network. This would greatly reduce the congestion of trains.
• Implement the recommendations of the Anil Kakodkar committee:
  • Implement the recommendations of the High-Level Safety Review Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Anil Kakodkar, including creating a Railway Safety Authority, adopting advanced signalling systems, eliminating level crossings, etc.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. “The massive derailment involving two passenger trains at Balasore is a stark reminder of safety issues that continue to challenge the vast railway system that transports nearly 22 million passengers each day”.Discuss.