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Train mishaps decline, but more lives lost
Bizarre as it may sound, but the number of Railway staff killed and injured on duty is significantly higher than those killed in train accidents.
About 1,600 railway men were killed and 8,700 injured at work in the period between 2007-08 and October, 2011, as compared to 1,019 deaths and 2,118 injuries in train accidents during the same period.
These revelations are part of the report by the Anil Kakodar-led Safety Committee, which submitted to the Railway Ministry last week a set of detailed measures to tighten security and safety on trains and Railway premises.
The Railway department that contributed the maximum number of death are engineering track with 1,100 deaths and 2,070 injuries and mechanical with 110 deaths and 4,900 injuries. Incidents of derailment constitute for 50 per cent of total accidents followed by 36 per cent accidents at unmanned level crossing gates, collisions (5 per cent), accidents at manned level crossing gates (4 per cent), fire accidents (2 per cent) and the remaining due to miscellaneous reasons (3 per cent).
While total consequential train accidents coming down from 195 in 2006-07 to 141 in 2010-11, deaths have gone up from 208 to 381 and total casualties from 610 to 844 during the same period due to severity of accidents.
Even incidents of trespassing result into a whopping 15,000 deaths every year, of which 6,000 alone are on the Mumbai Suburban System. “Reluctance of the Indian Railways to own these casualties, which do not fall under the purview of train accidents but are nevertheless accidents on account of trains, can by no means be ignored. No civilised society can accept such massacre on their railway system,” the Kakodkar panel said.
It was found that 42 per cent of accidents took place due to failure of railway staff, 43 per cent due to failure of other than railway staff, 7 per cent due to sabotage, 3 per cent each due to failure of equipment while incidental mishaps and miscellaneous mishaps account for 1 per cent each which see a combination of factors and/or non-establishment of cause. In fact, train accidents due to sabotage have increased from 4.1 per cent in 2006-07 to 11.36 per cent in 2010-11. Thus a large chunk of 85 per cent of accidents was on account of human failure, the committee noted.
Collisions, which are 5 per cent of the total tally, resulted into 24 per cent deaths and 26 per cent of the injuries (25 per cent of the total casualties). Analysis of collisions based on their time of occurrence indicates that period between 10 pm and 6 am has been most treacherous for the Railways with as many as 50 per cent of all such mishaps occurring during this time of the day.
Derailments, which are almost half of the consequential train accidents, resulted in 4 per cent deaths and 27 per cent injuries (19 per cent total casualties). Analysis of derailments based on their time of occurrence indicates that there is no correlation although there is a slightly higher possibility of trains derailing between 10 pm and 6 am.
The Indian Railways system has nearly 64,000 kilometers of track length with over 7,000 block stations. It holds 9,000 locomotives, 43,500 passenger coaches, 7,500 electrical and diesel multiple units and 2,20,000 wagons. Railway has a 13.62 lakh-strong work force, handles 20 million passengers and 2.45 million tonne of freight and earns Rs 245 crores on a daily basis.
Bizarre as it may sound, but the number of Railway staff killed and injured on duty is significantly higher than those killed in train accidents.
About 1,600 railway men were killed and 8,700 injured at work in the period between 2007-08 and October, 2011, as compared to 1,019 deaths and 2,118 injuries in train accidents during the same period.
These revelations are part of the report by the Anil Kakodar-led Safety Committee, which submitted to the Railway Ministry last week a set of detailed measures to tighten security and safety on trains and Railway premises.
The Railway department that contributed the maximum number of death are engineering track with 1,100 deaths and 2,070 injuries and mechanical with 110 deaths and 4,900 injuries. Incidents of derailment constitute for 50 per cent of total accidents followed by 36 per cent accidents at unmanned level crossing gates, collisions (5 per cent), accidents at manned level crossing gates (4 per cent), fire accidents (2 per cent) and the remaining due to miscellaneous reasons (3 per cent).
While total consequential train accidents coming down from 195 in 2006-07 to 141 in 2010-11, deaths have gone up from 208 to 381 and total casualties from 610 to 844 during the same period due to severity of accidents.
Even incidents of trespassing result into a whopping 15,000 deaths every year, of which 6,000 alone are on the Mumbai Suburban System. “Reluctance of the Indian Railways to own these casualties, which do not fall under the purview of train accidents but are nevertheless accidents on account of trains, can by no means be ignored. No civilised society can accept such massacre on their railway system,” the Kakodkar panel said.
It was found that 42 per cent of accidents took place due to failure of railway staff, 43 per cent due to failure of other than railway staff, 7 per cent due to sabotage, 3 per cent each due to failure of equipment while incidental mishaps and miscellaneous mishaps account for 1 per cent each which see a combination of factors and/or non-establishment of cause. In fact, train accidents due to sabotage have increased from 4.1 per cent in 2006-07 to 11.36 per cent in 2010-11. Thus a large chunk of 85 per cent of accidents was on account of human failure, the committee noted.
Collisions, which are 5 per cent of the total tally, resulted into 24 per cent deaths and 26 per cent of the injuries (25 per cent of the total casualties). Analysis of collisions based on their time of occurrence indicates that period between 10 pm and 6 am has been most treacherous for the Railways with as many as 50 per cent of all such mishaps occurring during this time of the day.
Derailments, which are almost half of the consequential train accidents, resulted in 4 per cent deaths and 27 per cent injuries (19 per cent total casualties). Analysis of derailments based on their time of occurrence indicates that there is no correlation although there is a slightly higher possibility of trains derailing between 10 pm and 6 am.
The Indian Railways system has nearly 64,000 kilometers of track length with over 7,000 block stations. It holds 9,000 locomotives, 43,500 passenger coaches, 7,500 electrical and diesel multiple units and 2,20,000 wagons. Railway has a 13.62 lakh-strong work force, handles 20 million passengers and 2.45 million tonne of freight and earns Rs 245 crores on a daily basis.
