India’s Worst Train Accident in 20 Years: Privileging Vanity over Safety
Prabir Purkayastha
THE three-train accident involving the Shalimar Coromandel Express, Yashwantpur Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train, is India's biggest train accident in the last 20 years. Confirmed deaths – as of June 7, 2023 – are 288 persons.
The accident occurred near Balasore – Bahanaga Bazar Station – when the Coromandel Express from Howrah going towards Chennai crashed into a goods train. While the main line was free and the signal green, the Coromandel Express had been diverted onto a loop line where there was a stationary goods train, crashing into it. This was the first collision. The second was when the derailed bogies of the Coromandel Express hit the Howrah Superfast Express from Bangalore. Its trailing bogies derailed as a consequence. This was the second collision. The high death toll was due to two near-simultaneous collisions and derailments, both occurring at high speed. The 288 death toll makes it the fourth largest disaster in Indian Railways' long history.
In a somewhat bizarre response, the BJP's troll base started a campaign that the accident was engineered by people who wanted to defame the Modi government. The initial claims were that a nearby ISKON temple was a mosque and the station master was a Muslim. Both claims were quickly proved to be fake news. While the railway minister initially claimed signal failure as the cause of the accident, he now appears to be pushing the story of wilful sabotage.
The CBI has now been asked to investigate the matter, even before the railways has determined the cause of the accident. The Indian Railways has established procedures to address all such accidents and has the necessary technical knowledge. The CBI does not have the ability to examine the signal and interlocking equipment of the railways. The CBI is, apparently, being used to divert attention from the failure of the safety systems to the usual suspects: minorities and anti-national elements. In a 2022 report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) pointed out that the 'incorrect setting of points and other mistakes" is a major cause of derailments. Why, then, pre-empt the railways enquiry with a CBI one?
Both trains were travelling at nearly 130 km/hr. As the Up Main Line and the Down Main Line were free, the trains could travel as fast as the maximum speed limit of the section. Should the protective devices on the track sections not have acted to prevent such an accident? How could a running train be diverted to a section with a stationary train? Considering that signalling and transfers from one track to another are automated in the Indian Railways, how did this train accident happen?
When trains have to change tracks, there is a set of physical devices on the tracks, such as junctions and crossings, which are operated by appropriate levers. The interlocking and safety systems ensure that such movements or switching of tracks ensures safe operations and conflicting movements. The signals, red, green or yellow, are also based on the position of the levers and the permission from the signalling system. Once a safe position is reached and appropriate signals are given to the loco pilot, the levers are locked, preventing further movement until the train has passed safely.
Earlier, these levers were operated manually. But for quite some time, they have been automated. From old-fashioned interlocking and signalling systems based on relays, we have moved on to solid-state and microprocessor-based systems. All the mechanical levers are controlled by the interlocking and the signalling system as also the signalling lights. In case of a system failure, all signals turn red, preventing any further movement of the trains.
According to preliminary reports, the Interlocking and Signalling system functioned "properly", and yet the position of the track elements that decide in which section of the tracks that train would travel did not match what the signal indicated to the loco pilot. While the signal for the Down Main line for the Coromandel Express was green, the point on the track which guides the train on to a track section, pointed to the loop line and not the main line.
How did the interlocking system fail, and not give the engine driver proper warning? As reported, a boom barrier at a level crossing near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station gave faulty indications. Since the closing of the level crossing is required that the train gets a green signal, this permission appears to have been bypassed as a shortcut. Unfortunately, this also seemed to have led to bypassing of the protections and proper positioning of tracks.
Instead of examining what failure took place – the failure of the signalling system, human failure due to faulty maintenance or bypassing of norms – a more sinister story of intentional sabotage is sought to be pushed in social media. This is being aided by various statements coming from the top echelons of the government to divert attention from a failure of railways to a supposed conspiracy. Even before railways have conducted a proper enquiry, a witch hunt has started and the CBI entrusted with finding the "culprits". The clear signal to railways and CBI is to find a few scapegoats and not focus on the systemic failures that led to such a major accident.
The Comptroller and Auditor General in its Audit Report on Derailment in Indian Railways (No. 22 of 2022) identified the systemic failures in the four-year period: from April 2017 to March 2021. The CAG found that a large number of accidents were attributable to the 'Operating Department', which oversees or carries out the maintenance work. According to the CAG Report, there were 275 cases of such problems, with 'incorrect setting of points and other mistakes in shunting operations' accounting for 84 per cent (or 231) of such instances. It is a matter of chance that having crossed 231 of such mishaps without a major accident, the number 232 has led to such a tragedy. Safety of trains is not a dice game: we need to have absolute safety as our goal and not play a percentage game.
Why do we have such a large number of problems in the setting points and maintenance of critical track and signals equipment? Indian Railways today lack adequate staff for critical operations and maintenance functions. It currently has more than three lakh vacancies, a significant part of which are for technical staff and operating staff: loco pilots, guards, station staff, including maintenance. This means that either we do not have adequately trained staff for critical duties, or they are overworked. Both are recipes for accidents waiting to happen.
Signal failure is not the only safety issue in the Indian Railways. The CAG report also points out that out of 1129 derailments, 422 were attributable to engineering issues, including 'maintenance of tracks' and 'deviation of track parameters beyond permissible limits'.
While routine maintenance is being neglected and the understaffed railway employees are doing even 16 hours of continuous duties, Indian Railways has embarked on an ambitious target of introducing new fast trains, the Vande Bharat Express trains. Seventy-five such trains are proposed to be launched by August 2023, each costing Rs 115 crores. As of May 31, 17 such trains are already operational. Indian Railways is also undertaking the ambitious bullet train scheme connecting Mumbai to Ahmedabad at an estimated cost of Rs 1,08,000 crore. All this while underfunding its safety programme.
The CAG Report (Para 3.3.1 Executive Summary) points out that the railways was supposed to have contributed Rs 20,000 crores over five years to its safety budget from internal resources, apart from the Rs 80,000 crores it receives as budgetary support from the central government. CAG states that the shortfall of funds for this safety budget –Rashtriya Rail Samraksha Kosh (RRSK) – from its internal resources was "to the tune of Rs 15,775 crores (78.88 per cent) out of the total share of Rs 20,000 crores". According to CAG, this "had defeated the primary objective of creation of RRSK to support absolute safety in railways."
In other words, Indian Railways has neglected essential safety functions while trying to execute prestige or vanity projects, a completely wrong priority. And to cover it up, it has mobilised its troll army to vilify the operating staff and ask the CBI to investigate a possible conspiracy even before a proper railway enquiry has taken place.
