Railways safety record comes under scrutiny in the wake of recent accidents.
What is the status of railways safety?
Rail mishaps are not an uncommon occurrence in India, but rarely does one see heads roll at the very top.
The deaths due to derailments was 193 in 2016-17.
One accident near Kanpur alone claimed over 140 lives in November 2016, it was highest in at least a decade.
The number of accidents has been steadily on the decline, from nearly 200 in 2007-08 to 104 in the last fiscal.
The number of derailments and casualties have been on the rise in the last three years even as the total number of accidents has fallen.
What are the reasons for derailment?
Derailments occur due to wear and tear of track, rolling stock and human error.
There is a persistent shortage of loco pilots, with nearly 19,000 vacancies out of over 95,000 posts.
As a result, loco-pilots are overworked and prone to error in signals.
About 25% posts for safety remain vacant, rationalisation of railways’ staff does not seem to have worked.
As for damaged tracks, 1.15 lakh km length should be renewed annually, but no more than half of that is generally carried out.
How this issues can be addressed?
Budget 2017-18 announced the creation of Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh with a fund of Rs.1 lakh crore to be used over five years.
Proposed safety fund will be utilised for track improvement, bridge rehabilitation, and rolling stock replacement, human resource development, improved inspection system and safety work at level crossing, among other things
It is important to focus on operational aspects such as allowing maintenance staff flexibility to hold up traffic even if that implies train delays.
A separate post for Member (Safety) needs to be created in the Railway Board.
