''Tragedy of Indore-Patna Express'' - Lessons to Learn

Introduction:

 The Indian Railways is one of the priced possessions of our Nation inherited from the British Raj. The Indian Railways which used to be a symbol of British domination, and racial discrimination turned into people’s transport soon after independence. Today the great organisation stands as the largest public sector employer in India (with 14 Lakh employees) and the 7th largest commercial or utility employer in the world. It serves the nation with its network of 115000Km of tracks, carrying 8.101 billion passengers annually or more than 22 million passengers a day and 1.107 billion tons of freight in the year. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ?1.709 trillion (US$25 billion) which consists of ?1.118 trillion(US$17 billion) from freight and ?451.26 billion (US$6.7 billion) from passengers tickets.

Context:
Over the years Indian Railways has went through several ups and downs, honoured as well as exploited (as a political instrument). Yet, the dedication to its service was consistent. With the new govt in power there have been several structural and functional changes in the organisation right from modernisation of coaches to the provisions of doing away with separate railway budget.
However, in the wake of the recent, unfortunate Railway mishap of “Indore Patna Express”, there is a need for an introspection into the basic safety provisions. There is a need to examine the gaps in safety management and fill the lacunae accordingly.

Issues (from this particular incident):
A large number of railway accidents in India are ascribed to derailment: Tracks are often old and overused and experts have made an urgent case for an overhaul. It is possible that the toll would not have been this high if the outdated heavy bogies had been replaced by the lighter LHB coaches. . By all accounts, the authorities know why rail accidents take place and what needs to be done, which is evident from the statements of the spokesperson of MoRailways who are assuring to raise the production of LHB coaches. But that wisdom is not acted upon.

The Anil Kakodkar committee set up by the ministry of railways in 2011 to review rail safety had come up with a slew of suggestions.

• The committee asked for Rs 1 lakh crore over a period of five years to improve safety and overhaul railway infrastructure, ranging from aged tracks to erratic signalling systems.
• It recommended that the Railways switch over from coaches designed by the Integral Coach Factory, Perambur, to LHB design coaches, deemed to be safer.
• The switchover was to cost Rs 10,000 crore over five years.
• It also suggested certain other recommendations such as:
• Stopping the practice of introduction of new trains without commensurate inputs to the infrastructure
• Having a statutory Railway Safety Authority and measures to strengthen the present Railway Safety Commission to undertake meaningful regulatory inspections
• Setting up a Railway Research and Development Council at the apex level directly under the government. This council should have Advance Railway Research Institute and five railway research centres for key safety-related railway disciplines
• Adoption of an advanced signalling system based on continuous track circuiting and cab signalling similar to European train control system Level-II
• Total elimination of all level crossings (manned and unmanned) within five years.

Four years after Kakodkar submitted the suggestions, however, the LHB coaches constitute just about 10 per cent of the bogies in circulation.

Causes behind Lack of Implementation:

a.) Political abuse of Indian Railways:
Indian railways is still one of the best organisations in the world, next to the army, with the most talented people. But the organisation is being systematically damaged by successive governments because of the lack of understanding of this organisation’s potential. The successive governments have treated the Indian railways as a political tool rather than an asset, capable of transporting people and freight and adding at least two per cent to our GDP.

b.) Skewed Priorities:
The problem may also lie in skewed priorities, which lead to a privileging of ambitious and money-guzzling projects like bullet and high-speed trains. No doubt, India needs faster trains. But in the pursuit of speed and spectacle, the government can ill afford to lose track of the basics.

c.) Apprehensions over Depreciative Reserve Fund:
A depreciation reserve fund (DRF) had been set up in the last decade. The provisioning for the DRF has come down from Rs 6,000 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 3,200 crore in 2016-17, against actual requirements now of Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore. To replace an old asset (tracks, rolling stock or signalling systems), there is a need to put money in the DRF

d.) UnEqual Priority (in terms of safety) to non VIP Trains:
Most of such accidents take place in trains categorised as non-VIP ones, unlike the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, etc. As the tracks and signalling system are common, what is different is the quality of rolling stock, namely locomotives, LHB coaches and better monitoring of tracks before such trains pass on them. There is a need to give equal priority to all trains as far as safety is concerned.

Other Recent Issues in Railways:

• The railways seems to have shifted its priority from operation with safety, to peripheral activities like catering, Wifi, bullet trains, etc.
• The railway organisation is totally demoralised as uncertainty looms large in terms of major changes at the top level. A two-year extension to the present chairman, Railway Board, after his retirement is unprecedented and has caused heartburn.
• Railway is also abused by local politicians who for every petty issue block Railway Tracks. The recent instance of undue interference by Mr Shwet Malik (an MP and a member of Parliamentary committee on Railways) in the routine operations is a shameful incidence.
• Due to budgetary constraints the railways is forced to spend less on existing assets, like tracks, rolling stocks, etc., while the replacement of worn-out assets has become difficult.
• Also due to staff shortage the quality of maintenance isn’t being monitored while replacement of LHB coaches is happening very slowly.

Way Forward:

• Merging Railway Budget with the general budget will check the above issues to a great extent. It will seek to contain political abuse of Indian Railways and ensure a proper safety infrastructure rather than allowing trains to different constituencies of various MPs.
• Rationalisation of passenger fares to prevent bankruptcy of Indian Railways.
• Implementation of Railway Safety Committees (Kakodkar and Sam Pitroda) should be done in letter and spirit.
• Depreciation Reserve Fund (DRF) and Development Fund (DF) should be rejuvenated with more investments, even from outside the organisation so as to ensure appropriate finances for the maintenance of Railways.
• Joint “Railway Safety Exercises” just like joint military operations so as to learn from other nations of the world too.

Conclusion:

Indian railways is still one of the best organisations in the world, next to the army, with the most talented people. Indian railways needs to be benchmarked to the Japanese railway system, Shinkansen, which, since 1964, has been carrying millions of passengers with zero fatality. Indian Railways is more than capable of achieving this benchmark, provided we give it the necessary resources.
We need to go for a generational change in our railway system and completely modernise it with latest technology. For this, the government needs a massive investment programme without relying on revenue from the railway’s internal generation. This investment will not only save precious lives, it will give handsome dividends to the GDP. It’s time we change the definition of the railways from a “commercial organisation” to a “basic infrastructure provider”.

By: Chandan Sharma