The message from our train wrecks

As investigation gets underway into Monday’s Kanchanjunga Express-cargo train accident near Jalpaiguri, the question that’s asked after every rail tragedy is back: why do train accidents happen so frequently in India. Answer: because the railways isn’t doing the basics right. Of course, Kavach, the indigenous hi-tech rail safety system, must be installed across the rail network. But there are interim measures the railways can take.Flush with funds | Until 2015, Indian Railways (IR) was hostage to severe resource crunch, which diminished its ability to build capacity and renew assets. Adoption of tech advances was slow, and overuse resulted in increased equipment failure.This changed from 2015, with capital expenditure (capex) increasing significantly. Over the last five years, allocation for capex has increased manifold . It’s currently in the range of ₹2.5L cr annually. There’s no dearth of financial resources, for augmenting capacity or safety.Safe to say… | Rail, unlike road, has fixed infra and can exclusively ensure creation, maintenance and functioning of its assets. Safety is not an additionality, but a feature of operations. Safety is neither outside of the system nor can be ensured by external input. It must count for as much as speed and expanse when assessing operational efficiency. The target for accidents must be zero. It would be heartless to talk up statistics on accidents and casualties. But then statistics also show us what’s going wrong.Collision too many | IR classifies accidents as ‘consequential’ and ‘indicative’. ‘Collisions’ are consequential accidents. Those called SPAD (Signal Passing at Danger) are treated as only ‘indicative’.Last decade’s safety statistics indicate a significant reduction in the number of accidents. Further analysis, however, reveals that in 2022-23, the number of accidents increased to 48 from 35 in 2021-22, when fewer trains were operated due to Covid.Importantly, the number of collisions that mostly resulted in high fatalities and injuries increased to six in 2022-23 from two in 2021-22. For 2023-24, figures aren’t yet available, but reports indicate four major collisions have taken place this year.Automate safety | Collisions are caused mostly on account of failure of staff, and sometimes failure of equipment. A running train collides with another “head-on” or “rear-on” when the preventive system of signalling fails or the crew ignores the same.IR needs to provide additional intervention to the loco pilot. Such interventions, on sensing an obstruction or its likelihood, stop the train, whether or not the pilot takes that action. Is this possible in India? Yes. All developed rail systems globally have this aid and have eliminated train collisions. This brings us to our indigenous anti-train collision system, what we call Kavach, currently being implemented on IR.It isn’t that Kavach type of tech wasn’t considered earlier. Mumbai suburban system, which carries almost half the number of IR passengers, has had an automatic train protection system for a couple of decades, with loco and trackside equipment. Projects called TCAS (train collision avoidance system), AWS (auxiliary warning system), AAS (audio alert system), and ETCS Level 2 were under trial before rail research body RDSO developed Kavach.Kavach is estimated to cost ₹1.2cr per km of track length. Reports say ₹710cr was allocated for its implementation in 2023-24; ₹540cr for 2024-25. In the first phase, Kavach is supposed to be installed along 10,000 route km of the network. It has already been sanctioned for Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai (3,000 route km). But we don’t know the target date for completion. IR’s initial plans on Kavach are to cover around 1,500 route km per year. Can’t wait | The collision at Rangapani is another reminder to IR why it’s so important to redouble its efforts. IR can’t afford major accidents with loss of lives and obviously can’t wait for the installation of Kavach on its entire network. Interim measures that can be provided include:Intensive training of frontline staff, both maintenance and operations.Fitting all locomotives with improved versions of low-cost devices like VCDs (vigilance control devices) and what’s called Dead Man’s Handle (a safety lever that applies the brakes if a loco pilot is incapacitated). Bringing back SPAD as a subcategory of collisions — each one of these is a potential collision.Filling operational vacancies and rationalising train operations on all routes. We should have a rail safety regulatory authority, like other developed railway systems.IR should remember: every life lost in a train accident overshadows its otherwise outstanding performance.The writer is former Member Traffic, Railway Board. Views are personal.