Catastrophic Train Collision in India: Questions and Concerns over Railway Safety

He recently had an exchangediscloseMost of the railways are being upgraded to be able to adapt to trains with a speed of 100 kilometers per hour, a considerable part of which will be upgraded to a speed of 130 kilometers per hour, and some are ready for high-speed trains with a speed of 160 kilometers per hour.

This is apparently part of the government’s intention to run faster trains across the country – a true high-speed rail line is being built separately, linking the financial capital Mumbai with the city of Ahmedabad.

But, Vivek Sahai, a former railway bureau official, told me, derailments remain “a headache on the railroads.” A train can derail for any number of reasons – “it could be poor maintenance of the tracks, it could be a problem with the carriages, it could be a driver error”.

One Government 2019-20Railway Safety ReportDerailments accounted for 70 per cent of rail accidents, up from 68 per cent the previous year, it found. (Train fires and collisions came next, accounting for 14% and 8% of the total number of accidents, respectively).

Rescue operations for the train accident have concluded, with officials saying trapped and injured passengers have been rescued.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the scene, called it a “distressing” incident.

He also said that those found guilty in the accident would be “severely punished”.

The multi-train collision has been described as India’s worst railway accident this century, and the exact cause is yet to be clarified.

Authorities have launched a comprehensive investigation into the incident, and railway authority officials said initial reports indicated that the accident may have been caused by a signal failure.

According to sources, there were about 2,000 passengers on board the two passenger trains involved in the accident.

The report counted 40 derailments in the year assessed, 33 involving passenger trains and seven involving freight trains. Seventeen of the derailments were due to track “defects” – which could include rail alignment or settlement.

Only nine of the derailments were due to failures within the trains – engines, carriages, wagons, etc., the report said.

Railroad tracks are made of metal that expands and contracts during the summer and winter months as temperatures rise and fall. They require regular maintenance—tightening loose parts, replacing sleepers, lubricating and adjusting adapters, and more. This type of track maintenance is accomplished by manual work, hand pushing, locomotive head and tail car.

The regular recommendation of Indian Railways is that track inspection vehicles scrutinize the geometric integrity of the track at least every three months to maintain a speed of 110 to 130 km/h.

Federal government auditors report on derailments from April 2014 to March 2021ReportAmong them were some disturbing findings:

There has been much discussion about installing anti-collision devices on Indian trains, but according to a railway official, the system is currently being installed on only two major lines – from Delhi to Kolkata and from Delhi to Mumbai. How such a system would work in the event of a derailment or “strange” crash is unclear.

In 2010, more than 150 people were killed when a passenger train derailed and collided with a freight train in West Bengal state. Investigators say Maoist insurgents damaged the tracks, derailing the Kolkata-Mumbai passenger train, throwing five of its cars onto the track of another freight train. There has been no indication of sabotage in Friday’s crash.

There will be 34 “consequence rail incidents” – crashes, derailments, fires or train explosions, road cars colliding with trains at grade intersections – in 2021-22, up from 27 in the previous year, the rail sector said. many. The Hindu reported on May 31 that the number of accidents in this category rose to 48 in 2022-23.

the reportPresciently, rail authorities, concerned about rising accident rates, have asked their top managers to “critically review staff hours, particularly at East Coast Railway and South East Central Railway, and make urgent corrections”. Friday night’s accident happened in a busy section of the East Coast Railway.