Editorial. Safety should be a top priority in the Rail Budget

The Kanchenjunga Express accident on June 17 — the third major collision episode in a year — raises questions on whether the Railways has gone a bit off-track on safety. While the Railways’ safety record has improved over two decades, there has been a recent reversal. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha in July last year that the number of ‘consequential accidents’ — those entailing injuries and loss of life — had fallen from 473 in 2000-01 to 48 in 2022-23. But the number of such accidents climbed from 22 in 2020-21 to 48 in FY23.

Derailments increased from 17 to 36 over these two years, after having fallen from 350 in 2000-01. The recent rise in derailments and collisions calls for a systemic response. It is only too easy to pin the blame on field staff, whereas the entire chain of command should be held to account. The Railways needs to adopt a dual-track approach to safety — have the right technology in place, and improve its management of human resources. The Kavach anti-collision software, which gets a train to stop when a loco pilot fails to apply the brakes, has been installed in just 1,465 route kilometres and 139 locomotives, despite its having been rolled out in February 2016. The Railway Minister informed Parliament this February that tenders had been awarded for Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah sections. Surely, Kavach is a complex technology, requiring the software integration of railway stations, track and locos. It costs ₹50 lakh per km and ₹70 lakh per locomotive. However, it could have been speeded up on high density routes. It is not clear why only three OEMs have been approved so far. If Kavach is to proceed at a snail’s pace, the Railways must evolve other tech options.

While such systems are meant to negate ‘human error’, it is also important that scope for the latter is reduced. Errors could occur when staff performing critical tasks requiring hours of concentration — such as loco pilot, assistant loco pilot, guard, station master, signal staff — are stretched on account of their inadequate numbers. The Railway Ministry’s response to a recent RTI application reveals that of the 2.7 lakh posts lying vacant in the Railways as of last June, 1.5 lakh are in the safety category. The Centre, however, seems to have woken up to the seriousness of the issue. Almost coinciding with the latest mishap, the Railways said it would recruit nearly 18,800 assistant loco pilots soon. This effort should continue.

Meanwhile, a December 2022 CAG report on derailments observes that there are shortfalls ranging from 30 per cent to 100 per cent in inspections by track recording cars. The upcoming Budget should push track renewal, while looking into why allocations of over ₹17,000 crore for FY24 on this count were not fully spent. The emphasis on ‘customer amenities’ can wait. With a gross budgetary support of ₹2.5-lakh crore likely to come its way, the Railways should work towards being safe rather than flamboyant.