Accidents in Indian Railways

Why in the News?

23 coaches of the Assam-bound North East Superfast Express derailed in Buxar district of Bihar recently, which has been caused due to cracks in the railway track as per primary investigation.

Accidents in Indian Railways:

1. Indian Railways (IR) has classified accidents, as an occurrence in the course of working of Railway, which does or may affect the safety of the Railway or passengers or safety of others or which does or may cause delay to train or loss to the Railway.
2. The accidents are classified under five heads:
   1. Train Accidents
   2. Yard Accidents
   3. Indicative Accidents
   4. Equipment Failures
   5. Unusual Incidents.

3. 217 consequential accidents have occurred between 2017-21, out of which the maximum accidents (163 derailments) were due to derailments (~75% of the total consequential accidents).
4. In the category ‘Other Train Accidents’, total 1800 accidents took place in which derailments accounted for 68%.

Derailments on Indian Railways:

1. Derailments are off-loading of wheel or wheels causing detention or damage to rolling stock/permanent way.
2. Causes of derailment can be due to sudden or gradual due to failure of one or more of factors related to
   1. Track
   2. Train operations
   3. Mechanical/ Rolling Stock
   4. Signal and Telecommunication.
3. The maximum derailments (395) were in ‘Engineering Department’ followed by ‘Operating Department’ (173).
4. The major factors responsible for derailment:
   1. Maintenance of track (highest)
   2. Deviation of track parameters beyond permissible limits
   3. bad driving/over speeding.

Recommendations:

1. Strict adherence to the scheduled timelines for conducting and finalization of accident inquiries.
2. Developing a foolproof system of learning from past mistakes from the accident inquiry reports.
3. A robust safety management system has to be created to ensure a system of checks and balances and minimize the chances of accident due to ‘failure of’ or ‘weakness in’ one or more of the remaining barriers.
4. Monitoring the preventive action has to be mandatorily made part of SIMS, the online real time reporting system
5. The quantity and quality of maintenance should not be compromised and adequate staffing in safety category has to be ensured.
6. The Track Management System (TMS), a web-based application for online monitoring of track maintenance activities has to be made operational.
7. Physical as well as financial targets in respect of track renewals need to be enhanced as per the annual requirement for track renewals for safety.