Derailed again
In yet another railway mishap, 15 coaches of the Sealdah-Ajmer Express train derailed yesterday near Rura railway station around 50km from Kanpur. At least 43 people were injured in the accident that took place early in the morning, when the train was crossing a bridge over a dry canal. And while the exact cause of the derailment is yet to be ascertained, dense fog in the area has been cited as a factor. Worryingly, the accident comes just a month after the horrific derailment of the Patna-Indore Express train, again outside Kanpur, that resulted in more than 150 fatalities and injured more than 200.
The two tragedies highlight a serious issue with safety in the railways. It’s clear that enough attention and resources aren’t being devoted to this vital area. In fact, there’s a propensity in the railways to overuse old assets instead of replacing them. The poor financial health of the mass transporter means that safety isn’t given the priority that it deserves. Things like track maintenance and tackling winter fog ought to be routine. Yet we find the railways struggling to get these basics right.
Against this backdrop, it’s unrealistic for government to advertise high-speed bullet trains without addressing basics such as railway safety first. The mass transporter needs measures such as independent auditing of rail safety and switching over to modern Linke Holfmann Bush coaches – as suggested by the Anil Kakodkar panel in 2012 – which minimize casualties in case of accidents. Over the past two years, the railways ministry did well by not going down the populist route. It now needs to realize that the devil lies in the details, which may seem boring but are nonetheless vital for the mass transporter.
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