Number of train accident reduced, claims Railways

  Maligaon, August 23 (MExN): In the backdrop of two train accidents in the last four days, the North East Frontier Railways (NFR) has claimed that the consequential train accidents have continuously declined from 135 in 2014-15 to 107 in 2015-16 and further to 104 in 2016-17.   At least 22 people died and over 156 injured when the Haridwar-bound Kalinga Utkal Express train coming from Puri in Odisha derailed on Saturday. On Wednesday, the engine and five coaches of Kaifiyat Express derailed near Auraiyya district of Uttar Pradesh, injuring more than 50 passengers.   The NFR though seems to take pride in the declining accident record informing that the Accidents Per Million Train Kilometres (APMTKMs) – which is an internationally accepted yard stick for safety – has declined from 0.23 in 2006-07 to 0.09 (approximately) in 2016-17.   A press release from the NFR informed that in the current year also, consequential train accidents decreased from 29 to 15 during 2017-18 (from 01/04/2017 to 30/06/2017) in comparison to corresponding period of the previous year – an improvement of 48.3% over the last year.   One of the missions of the Railway Budget 2016-17 was the Mission Zero Accident which plans on eliminating Unmanned Level Crossings on Broad Gauge by 2020. The mission also laid stress on developing Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) – an indigenous technology.   A fund namely ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ (RRSK) with a corpus of Rs.1 lakh crore over a period of five years has also been created for financing critical safety related works.   Besides these steps, the Railways also plan on renewing tracks, using Vehicular Ultrasonic Flaw Detection (USFD) System and Self Propelled Ultrasonic Rail Testing (SPURT Car) to ensure faster as well as more reliable testing, Trial of Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System (UBRDS) for detection of Rail/Weld fractures, Proliferation of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches for improving Safety, and refurbish ICF coaches.   The Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) is also on the cards for trains. The TPWS has the capability to control the speed of train in accordance with the sectional permitted speed and signal aspect ahead by automatic actuation of brakes, in case loco pilot fails to do so in time. Thus it mitigates safety risk of accidents/collisions due to loco pilot’s error of Signal Passing at Danger or over speeding. TPWS also reduces delays during foggy weather, the release informed.