Misaligned priorities?

Indian Railways should reassess its investment priorities by conducting regular reviews of safety protocols, modernising track and signalling systems, and ensuring proper staffing to prevent fatigue-induced errors

- JASMER SINGH MUNDREY

A spate of rail accidents in recent days, resulting in loss of precious lives and property, underscores the need for strong measures to reduce, if not altogether eliminate, these accidents. The responsibility for these accidents, inevitably, gets fixed at the junior operating level such as locomotive pilot, station master, signal and track maintenance staff etc., thus skirting the root cause. Every accident is a notice that something is wrong with men, methods, or material; so, investigate and act.

Measures required to drastically reduce accidents are welldocumented; in fact a strict adherence to these measures has paid rich dividends to the European Railways where there has been no serious rail accident in more than a decade. Our operational environment is similar to European Railways. Therefore, it makes sound sense to observe codified safety protocols, without fail.

A periodical review of compliance of Safety Regulations is where we should begin with. Railway transport system, with its right of way, is the safest mode of transport. Railways the world over-and Indian Railways (IR) is no exception-have a time tested robust system to ensure safety of operations. Times and technology are ever changing, and so should these systems. Review at regular intervals to respond to the emerging requirements must be institutionalised, assigning responsibility for such review at different levels of railway administration. It would be a serious lapse if review to revisit the prevailing standards is not made at regular intervals; hence, the responsibility lies at the highest level viz. Railway Board/Ministry of Railways.