Filling up vacancies for engineering roles and putting technology adoption on the fast track are some ways to prevent a recurrence of Balasore-like train mishaps, a cross-section of experts has said.
“There needs to be enhanced focus on field inspections even while limiting time spent on meetings, which has gone up markedly with the introduction of video conferencing facilities,” a former Indian Railways official told Business Today requesting anonymity.
The official also urged that the Railways fill vacancies in several critical positions in the engineering department of the world’s fourth largest rail transporter. “There has been no fresh induction of engineers through engineering services exams in the last few years,” the person said.
The June 2 accident at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore district involving three trains—the Coromandel Express, SMVT Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, and a good train—had left over 275 passengers dead and over 900 injured. BT’s initial assessment of the horrific tragedy having been caused by a criminal neglect of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) leading to a signalling failure was eventually validated by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and officials of the Indian Railways.
Lalit Chandra Trivedi, former general manager of East Central Railway, attributed the fatal train crash to a combination of factors such as underinvestment in railway safety and the transition of the state-owned behemoth into an enterprise that was only now learning to work closely with the private sector to improve efficiencies.
Agreeing about the shortage of skilled engineering staff, Trivedi said, “Training institutions lack quality and are not designed for training staff for high-intensity, high speed operations. While the organisation is otherwise overstaffed there is a shortage of personnel at a local level in critical areas of safety requiring specialised skills.”
While welcoming the increased spending on railway safety through funding initiatives such as the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh with a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus, Trivedi said the current pace of modernisation left a lot to be desired.
“Signals and track don’t support speeds higher than 110 kmph, resulting in underutilisation of rolling stock mostly capable of 160 kmph,” he said.
Consequently, the attempts to provide 2X25 KV overhead equipment-cantilever (OHE), tracks capable of supporting semi-high-speed trains and implementation of the automatic train protection (ATP) system often appear half-hearted.
Maintenance and utilisation of equipment
Though there is much talk regarding ATP systems such as the indigenously developed Kavach, proper maintenance and utilisation of on-groundequipment such as electronic interlocking, axle counter, track circuit and point machine was equally important.
“With all this equipment, maintenance and SOPs are very important. We have to ensure that these things are properly managed and there is not a single deviation,” emphasised singalling expert Raviprakash Karcherla.
Others spoke about the slow rate of adoption of cutting-edge technologies and lack of structured R&D activities.
“The multiple attempts at introducing technology in the Indian Railways haven’t progressed to satisfactory levels yet. That needs to be addressed on a war footing now as there is a lot to be done, especially with regard to Kavach and other proven technologies,” a senior executive at a leading railway original equipment manufacturer said.
Earlier, the government had abruptly cancelled a programme for the rollout of the European Train Control System (ETCS), where Bombardier had emerged as the lowest bidder in a tender that also saw participation by Siemens, Hitachi-Ansaldo and Texmaco Rail and Engineering for a deal that was potentially worth around Rs 1,000–1,500 crore. “Had the project not been cancelled, its implementation would have helped the Railways and passengers,” the executive said.
Sources who had closely tracked the project told BT it was shelved to save costs as well as the hassle of adapting foreign technology to local conditions.
“Discussions to give thrust to technology have been going on in the Railways for more than 10 years. It is a no-brainer, deploying technology in a brownfield environment is never easy but then ways have to be found!” the executive observed wryly.
It is, therefore, hoped that the introspection resulting from the Balasore tragedy will lead to a renewed push on improving railway safety.
Also read: Odisha train crash due to criminal neglect of safety protocols in signalling, says railway expert