Indian Express – Article Summary
Author: M Jamshed
Actions required to prevent collisions –
- Provision of low-cost equipment in locomotives to aid the driving crew.
- Strengthen preventive maintenance of signalling assets
- Impart intensive training to staff
- Treat every Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD) case as a major accident and deal with it accordingly.
- Paying attention to Indian Railway’s asset reliability.
- Successful examples of Automatic Train Protection Systems, working in the Mumbai suburban for the last few decades, could be emulated. Safety Fund resources should be utilised towards these.
- Internal outcome audit for impact assessment.
- Adopting global practices and standards of safety.
Important Points –
- Indian Railways has been provided finances exclusively for safety. This is through the creation of special funds known as Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) and the Rail Safety Fund.
- The Indian Railways is also permitted to utilise capital grants for safety-related work.
- An allocation for capex of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore was made during 2023-24 and again for 2024-25.
- The financing of Indian Railways annual plans indicate that there is now no dearth of funds with the railways to undertake and complete all safety-related work.
What the government is doing to improve the Indian Railways –
- Extension of rail network
- Capacity augmentation of the congested routes
- Dedicated freight corridors commissioned
- Increased Speed
- Visible development network-wide.
Pointers for prelims examination –
- Indian Railways General and Subsidiary Rules have been formulated to ensure the safe and expeditions running of trains.
- The automatic signalling system permits trains to follow each other at a restricted speed governed by signal aspect.
- The International Railways safety performance data is published annually by the UIC (International Union of Railways).
What is KAVACH?
KAVACH is an anti-collision device being made available in a phased manner. Two sections — Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai — have been identified and sanctioned for this work. A total of 10,000 route km will be covered by KAVACH. It involves the installation of compatible equipment in locomotives, at stations and on the trackside and thus its execution takes time.
Opening Paragraph for essay –
“The Indian Railways is the largest such system under a government in terms of passenger traffic. Its network has crossed 1,00,000 running track kilometres, and it is about to become fully electrified. It is on track to achieving unprecedented growth in both passenger and freight traffic segments, despite selling passenger services below cost by a unique cross-subsidy mechanism. Its ordinary working expenses also finance its growing staff costs and fuel bills — an incredible business model.”
Quotes –
“What is most striking about any train accident which results in deaths is that most of the time, the accident was avoidable.”
“Safety is a feature of rail operations – it is not an externality.”
“…safety from harm does take precedence over speed and comfort. And so the only performance indicator for accidents on the IR is that they must be at zero.”
(The Indian Railways) “ … carries a deep social responsibility and transformative potential for equity.”
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