Fifty-five accidents in the last 126 days speak volumes about the horrible safety standards of Indian Railways. Poor maintenance of tracks, faulty signaling systems, and a shortage of manpower, all combined, have virtually made journeys by rail utterly unsafe in recent times. More shocking is the fact that despite promising corrective measures, the railways have virtually taken no positive steps, which is evident from the fact that two almost identical accidents have taken place within a year in the country. Last year, the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express met with an accident near Balasore in Odisha, in which 290 passengers were killed when, instead of moving on the main line, the ill-fated train wrongly took the loop line and rammed into a goods train. Quite similarly, the Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express collided with a stationary goods train on a loop line, despite having the necessary clearance to pass through the main line. The only difference between the two accidents lies in the number of casualties. While the previous accident had claimed nearly 300 lives, fortunately, the death toll is not as high in the recent one, despite eleven coaches of the express train catching fire.
On enquiry, it has been found that a fault in the track-changing gear caused the accident in Balasore, due to which the train traveled on the loop line instead of the main line. Preliminary indications in the Mysuru-Darbhanga train accident also hold a faulty track-changing system responsible for the tragic incident. It’s time for the railways to make its track-changing system foolproof; otherwise, the nation will have to witness many such accidents due to faulty train-running systems. In the case of Balasore, it was being argued that despite the fact that repair work was going on, the concerned railway official erred by allowing the train to move. It is anticipated that a similar human error may be behind the latest accident. On its part, the railways should thoroughly investigate and remove any shortcomings found in the process once and for all to make train journeys safer, as there is an urgent need to stop the train-accident cycle.
During the last couple of years, Indian Railways has progressed well toward modernising its services by introducing state-of-the-art Vande Bharat Express trains and improved passenger facilities, among others. But all these achievements will come to naught if the railways fail to instill confidence among the people about rail journeys. Crowded train coaches may be a matter of the past sooner than later if the railways do not take adequate measures to ensure safe train journeys. To achieve this feat, the railways should fill all the vacancies with immediate effect, as outsourcing proves to be a failure as far as safety is concerned. The railways may outsource a couple of services, like ticket vending and managing Rail Yatri Nivas meant for passengers in transit, etc. But its core services, especially the hassle-free movement of trains, should never be handed over to outsiders by allowing them to repair signals or tracks, as the question of national security and the safety of passengers is attached to it.