On 29th October, two passenger trains collided in the district Vizianagaram of Andhra Pradesh, leading to the death of at least 13 passengers. Several passengers were reported injured in the accident. The Vizianagaram train accident, which reminded me of the tragic accident of Balasore in June 2023, possibly happened due to human error.
Though the Ministry of Railways has released no official statement over the cause of the accident, a report in Times of India suggested that ‘human error’ could be the reason behind the tragedy. The paper cited sources in the Indian Railway saying the accident appeared to have been caused by an overshooting of the signal by the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train.
According to a report in The Hindu, the accident took place when the Visakhapatnam-Palasa was running on the middle line and it had stopped as an overhead cable broke. The Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Express was coming from behind on the same line and rammed into the stationary train, resulting in the derailing of two coaches.
Therefore, going by how the accident occurred, it was the result of human error, as the loco pilot of the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada train ignored the signal and continued to run on the track, hitting the other train on its rear end.
According to senior government official Nagalakshmi S, there were 90 people in the two coaches that were derailed.
India needs quicker implementation of Kavach
India is implementing an anti-collision system for the Indian Railways to avoid accidents. The Kavach system uses high-frequency radio signals to communicate with nearby trains and tracks. It is a set of electronic devices and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices installed in locomotives, in the signalling system and in the tracks.
Apart from preventing head-on and rear-end collisions between trains on the same train, it can also slow down over-speeding trains, alert and apply brakes when a train crosses the signal, automatically whistle at level crossings, etc. The devices in the system connect to each other to control the brakes of the trains and alert the drivers based on the logic programmed into the system.
It is important to understand that Kavach can work in both cases where there is a possible head-on collision or a collision from the rear end. The system works when both the trains are running, or when a train is stationary on a track and another train runs towards it on the same track.
While under development for a decade, work on it started in 2012, but the system is yet to be installed on the entire network. It is a vast system, which needs to be installed on every train, every railway station, and every signalling point.
The indigenously developed anti-collision system has been implemented in the railway network only recently. The trial of the Kavach system took place just a year ago, where two trains, one with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, were driven towards each other on the same track, and the system successfully applied brakes to stop the trains in May last year. After that, the railways started installing the safety system in a phased manner.
According to a statement by the ministry issued in December 2022, Kavach has been deployed for 1,455 Route Kms on the South Central Railway with 77 locomotives. The length of the railway routes across the country is 68,000km. This means that nearly 99% of the routes are still to be covered under the system.
It is being installed on around 3000 km of track on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors. The Railways has informed that Kavach works have been sanctioned on 36,545 km routes. Apart from the Delhi-Mumbai & Delhi–Howrah corridors, work is also going on in train routes in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
There are criticisms that the Railways is taking only small sections for Kavach implementation each year, and budget allocation is less. It is expected the Railway Board will accelerate the process following two back-to-back accidents involving the collision of two passenger trains.
Congress had spread misinformation about the diversion of funds
After the tragic Balasore accident, the Congress Party targeted the Modi government for allegedly misusing funds designated for railway safety. Citing a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, Congress pointed out that the money was spent on items like foot massagers, crockery, and furniture from the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK). For the unaware, RRSK is a dedicated fund for railway safety. However, Congress had misrepresented the CAG report.
The items mentioned in the report were purchased for Running Rooms. These rooms provide essential rest facilities for train crews between shifts. It has to be pointed out that Loco pilots and train managers need proper rest to ensure safety, as fatigue can lead to human errors, which have caused past accidents. The funds allocated for these items were minimal compared to the overall RRSK fund, and they were within the guidelines for staff welfare and passenger amenities under RRSK.
However, two accidents in just a span of six months showed that there is a need for better-trained loco pilots and train managers to take quick measures to avoid accidents.
Balasore Train Accident
On 2nd June 2023, 296 people died, and over 1,200 were injured in the tragic accident at Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, Odisha. On the day of the accidents, the Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary freight train. As a result of the Balasore Train Accident, some of the derailed coaches fell onto the adjacent tracks. A few minutes later, the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express train came on those tracks and collided with the derailed coaches.
