The Indian Railways is facing a major existential crisis. In the last five years, three consequential train accidents are taking place every month with 18 accidents having been reported in the first five months of this year. Shockingly, both freight and passenger trains are involved in these accidents. This raises serious questions about poor track maintenance and outdated infrastructure, inefficient signalling and lack of upkeep of bridges and tunnels.
The latest accident took place on October 11, when train No12578 Mysuru – Darbhanga Bagmati Express collided with a stationary goods train at around 8.30 pm at Kavaraippettai Railway Station in Chennai Rail Division, Tamil Nadu, causing injuries to nine passengers.
The railways have been trying to present this accident as a case of sabotage claiming some miscreants interfered with the interlocking safety system resulting in the accident.
But a senior railway official pointed out that this accident was a repeat of the Balasore rail accident on June 2023 when three trains collided in Odisha, killing 296 people and injuring over 1000 people. Following the October 11 accident, the leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi tweeted on how this Kavaraippettai accident seemed to bear an uncanny similarity to the accident at Balsaore.
Said the official, “The signal was given for the main line but the interlocking was done for the loop line due to which the passenger train entered the loop line and rammed into the stationary freight train. Fortunately, the empty wagon of the freight train bore the brunt of the accident otherwise there would have been a very high number of casualties.”
Alok Verma, retired chief engineer of the railways pointed out, “The Kavaraippettai train accident is a clear case of the operational and maintenance failure of the railways. We need to ask the Railway Minister and the Railway Board on how a Balasore accident could be repeated in this fashion but instead we see the authorities trying to cover up their failings by claiming this to be a case of sabotage.”
A report published in the media on October 18 has quoted from some internal hearings taking place before the Commissioner of Railways Safety AM Chowdhary where railway officers have claimed six bolts and nuts were removed shortly prior to the passage of the train. The loco pilot of the train in question confirmed that he saw the green signal but was clueless about how the train moved into the loop line. The CRS report on this accident is awaited and till then it is premature to make any assertion of what caused the accident.
Verma however maintains, “The railway authorities have been crying wolf and peddling the sabotage theory for the last five years. But the reports submitted by the Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS), which has investigated these accidents, highlight how most of these accidents are the result of equipment failure or human error. My question to the railway authorities is, how many railway officials have been brought to book and — when such accidents are taking place with such frequency — why have no heads rolled?’’
In 2022, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways submitted a report looking at accidents that had occurred between 2017-2021. Of the 244 “consequential rail accidents” tracked between this period, derailment accounted for as many as 184 accidents. One of the reasons for derailment is the slow pace of track renewal by the railways. The failure of the railway staff resulted in 164 accidents and failure of equipment caused 15 other accidents during this period. Sabotage during this period accounted for just three accidents though the report failed to mention who was behind the cause of this sabotage.
“When the railway authorities keep highlighting sabotage as being the cause of accidents, why is no evidence provided on details of this sabotage?” Verma asks wondering whether there is some deep- rooted conspiracy to move passengers away from rail travel to other modes of transport.
The CAG report on derailments was also tabled in Parliament in 2023 which highlighted how the funds created for critical safety-related works by the railways to prevent accidents have been declining. Even worse, the funds allocated for track renewal works were not being fully utilized. Despite an allocation of Rs 58,459 crore, only Rs 671 crore was spent between 2020-21. This was happening when out of 1,127 derailments, 289 derailments were found to be directly linked to track renewals.
Alarmingly, the CAG also highlighted how there had been more than one lakh signal failures and numerous track and rolling stock issues every year.
Shockingly, 2023-2024 say 313 passenger deaths and the death of four railway employees in 20 train accidents. The number of casualties and injuries has been the highest the railways suffered in its entire history with 800 passengers having suffered serious injuries in that year.
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Even a cursory glance at the CRS reports reveals shocking levels of incompetence and mismanagement. In case of the Andhra Pradesh accident in October 2023 in which 11 lives were lost and 60 people injured following the derailment of four bogies, the CRS report blamed “systemic safety lapses, including the failure of the anti-telescopic features in the coaches of both trains and the malfunctioning of an automatic signalling system.”
The CRS report into the Kanchenjunga Express accident in North Bengal stated that the mishap was ‘waiting to happen’ because of multiple lapses in train operations management in automatic signal zones and ‘inadequate counselling’ of loco pilots and station masters. Or take the case of the derailment of 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai mail when its engine brushed against a portion of a goods train which had jumped tracks a few minutes earlier, killing two and injuring 20, here again the blame is attributed to systemic lapses in railway functioning.
Sabotage theories are being matched by conspiracy theories. Hours after the Balasore tragedy, there were tweets on social media claiming the existence of a mosque near the accident site whereas it turned out be an ISKCON temple. Another rumour was that the station master was a Muslim and had gone into hiding after the accident but this was also found to be false. The idea is always to try and offset attention to hate-related issues instead of getting to the bottom of what is triggering these accidents.
This lack of attention to planning and efficient functioning has affected the revenue growth of the railways which has slowed down while its dependency on budgetary allocation for capex has increased. Safety not bullet trains must be the given a priority. The present focus of the railways seems to be on promoting Vande Bharat trains but these have little meaning if overall passenger safety cannot be ensured. Instead of bullet trains, by now anti-collision devices should have been installed in all our trains. If safety is of paramount importance, as is claimed by the railway minister, why is track renewal not a priority status?
The other key question to ask the railway authorities is despite this abysmal track record, why are vacant positions in safety categories of the IR not being filled up. The result of these large vacancies is that the loco drivers, maintenance staff, etc are all overworked. Several unions have written to the railway minister Anubhav Vaibhav questioning why railway workers, loco pilots, station masters, train managers ( earlier known as guards), signalling staff are blamed for accidents even before an enquiry takes place.
Another key aspect that needs to be looked into is that where ever equipment is being upgraded, proper training needs to be provided to the staff on how to use it. Shortcut in training procedures is another factor known to have triggered accidents.
The railways have a huge work staff and each individual at every level plays a critical role. No individual of this well-oiled machine can afford to make a mistake as that can precipitate a disaster. The unions believe that the government is increasingly trying to run the IR as a private company with an eye on profit with the safety of its passengers being given a short shrift. In house technologies are not being opted for with a preference being given to expensive technologies being purchased from private companies. IR needs urgent course correction otherwise it will continue to be given the moniker of the most accident- prone rail network in the world.
Rashme Sehgal is an author and an independent journalist
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