How to Make India’s Railways Safer

[harpoon]

Do you think the general population in India has the ability to pay for increased fare which will be the direct result of privatization ? Also--In places like bihar--people dont even bother to get platform tickets--let alone--train tickets. How will the private firms make money ?

Private companies are not philanthropists like the government--despite its many faults. They will cut their losses and scuttle operations at the first sign of trouble.

And besides--we are not mature enough to respect public property. Private parties will not be willing to entertain any damage to their property.

But a partial privatization can work .For example private companies can operate trains like Rajadhani (where there is no 'free lunch' like the ordinary ones). The private companies can buy or lease the train and they will pay railway per km and for the services availed by them like the loco pilots/guards/RPF etc

Shuffling ministers like pack of cards wont solve any problem. Its a institutional issue, even a good raiway minister cant change it in 5 years.
We need massive investment in railways for few years (like highway projects) with focus on safety. Problem is passenger fair is artificially kept low (political issue) which bleeds railways. The users of railways should contribute to it instead of looking at taxpayers all the time.

I am not aware of the financial health of railways, but God help us if it goes the way of Pakistan Railways. Railways is like a elephant..strong and powerful but once hit and go down, very difficult to get it back up.

 

[SamantK]

Only one thing needs to be done, do away with the concept of 'Sarkaari Naukri' everything will fall into place..

 

[tvsram1992]

Local sources say three blasts were heard , news still not in to public , forensic dept is still trying to find out the mystery . Why would every one sleep and die with out running from other side ? Atleast if one person has observed , others would have ran out . More over chain didnt work . It seems that fire originated from two places .

 

[RISING SUN]

Don’t let politics wreck rail safety
The fire in the Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express in the early hours of Monday, which took many lives and left many passengers in a critical state, is a grim reminder that the Indian Railways have failed to deliver on safety. Accidents at regular intervals, and failed promises to technologically upgrade safety measures and tighten and nurse laid-down procedures, indicate the need for a radical approach in dealing with safety.

If rolling stock, tracks and signalling equipment do not undergo serious overhaul, and maintenance is not given its due, a key element of infrastructure will continue to suffer from neglect. We must be mindful that neglect has already become endemic to our railway system. If India is to modernise and enhance its infrastructure — which vitally includes its vast railway network — to step up the rate of growth of the economy and beat the poverty trap, the safety aspect of the railways perhaps needs to be brought under a specialised department with necessary funding and authority of its own.

Such a department should be headed by a minister other than the railway minister. A significant part of its resourcing must be met from the Indian Railways’ contribution to the Consolidated Fund of India — so that railway safety doesn’t become a drag on the taxpayer — and that means not keeping fares and freight all but frozen to meet political whims of individual ministers. A recent official report also pointed to the pressing need for fairly tidy investments in railway safety in the medium term.

The urgency of segregating rail safety from the present railway ministry suggests itself when we consider how little attention has been paid by railway ministers to their charge recently. Mukul Roy, the current railway minister, continues to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Mamata Banerjee. His absenteeism from work — it is said he attends office less than half the month — hardly sets a wholesome example.

While more information is needed to piece together the causes of the fire in the Tamil Nadu Express, and the reasons why more lives couldn’t be saved, available reports suggest the utter failure of the system in appropriately preparing a long-distance train for a journey, especially insofar as the electrical equipment is concerned. Also, once the fire started, there appeared to be no system in place to deal with the emergency in any meaningful way.

This had the effect of leaving passengers to their own devices. What transpired virtually amounts to criminal negligence by the state as the railways are a state-owned, state-managed and state-run entity, and legal redress is indicated. Heads must roll top downward to shake the system out of its complacency.
Don

 

[mirage]

http://idrw.org/isro-conducts-1st-satellite-based-warning-system-trial-for-railways/#more-86244

The first trial run for developing a satellite-based system to warn train drivers of unmanned railway crossings was conducted by ISRO scientists in Ahmedabad recently. Scientists at the city-based Space Applications Centre (SAC) are now in the process of commercially developing this system that will be fitted on 50 different trains across the country as a second part of the demonstration project.

Of around 30,000 level crossings of the Railways, as many as 11,000 are unmanned. “An estimated 7,000 people die every year at these unmanned crossings in the country. We have successfully conducted the first test-drive in Ahmedabad for developing a satellite-controlled warning system for the Indian Railways that will alert the train driver well in advance about an approaching unmanned level crossing. Simultaneously, it will also alert the road-users about the approaching train,” Tapan Misra, director of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre, said..

The demonstration project was carried out by a team of ISRO scientists and Western Railway officials in the first week of January. Under this project, a transmitter connected to GSAT-6 (a communication satellite) was mounted at Vastrapur and Sarkhej level crossings. Thereafter, the team boarded a train — fitted with a hooter that was in turn connected with a similar transmitter and a receiver — running between Gandhigram and Moraiya, near Changodar. All the trial runs were conducted in Ahmedabad.

“About 500 m before the level crossings, this hooter went on, warning the train driver about the approaching level crossing. The hooter got louder as the level crossing neared, and finally fell silent after the train passed it by. Similarly, the hooter attached to the transmitter mounted on the railway crossings alerted the road users about the approaching train. We had also used global positioning system and Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) during this demonstration. After its success, we will soon implement the second phase,” Misra said.

In the next phase of the demonstration project, SAC has selected six private companies for commercially developing the satellite-based transmitting and receiving system. “One of the six models/designs developed by these companies will be selected and will be demonstrated on 50 different trains running across the country. This demonstration will be done for a month,” he said, adding that the system will be integrated with IRNSS

According to scientists at SAC, the project to build warning systems will be taken forward to cover the entire railway network at a later stage. A GIS (Geographical Information Systems) mapping will be done of the entire route and a GIS map will be created. “This will help Indian Railways track each train on its network and also get timely alerts about derailment and accidents,” Misra added.