In Prabhu regime, accidents on the rise

The derailment of Sealdah-Ajmer express that took place near Rura railway station in Kanpur Dehat district exposes poor safety mechanism of the Railways. Despite the claims of implementing best-available safety measures to avoid such mishaps, about 450 people have been killed in different accidents and over 800 injured in last three years. According to the ministry’s data, Railways witnessed 29 train mishaps in from 2014 to 2016.

The year 2016, which could had been a good year for Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, proved to be the worst. Till Wednesday, the Railways has witnessed 12 train accidents in 2016, followed by 10 in the year 2015 and seven in the year 2014.

According to experts, it’s the poor tracks, which have emerged as single major cause of rail mishaps. 

After Wednesday’s accident, the Delhi-Howrah route via Kanpur has been temporarily closed and the Shatabdi express from Delhi to Kanpur was cancelled. Both 12313 Up Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and 12301 Up Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express were diverted via Kanpur Central-Jhansi-Agra Cantonment-Palwal route.