CRB grills GMs over railways safety, gives 7-point agenda

New Delhi: In the wake of recent series of train derailments causing loss to lives, the Chairman Railways Board grilled all the general managers as well as safety officers of different zones over the strengthening of safety in railways. According to sources, all zonal heads have been directed to better the safety standards in railways by implementing 7-point agenda given to them by the CRB.

As per the seven-point agenda, senior divisional engineers have been told to identify the critical locations of tracks apart from drawing an action plan for maintenance of tracks that are vulnerable to safety.

According to sources, the GMs and concerned officials were told to increase the interaction of people down the line for timely action if any fault comes to notice. The GMs and safety officers were grilled for over hours during the meeting which was held on Monday through video-conferencing.

At the meeting, wherein all GMs, safety officers, principal chief officer interacted with CRB and some other senior officers, the concerned officers were told to resolve the lesser vulnerable areas in a phased manner, while critical locations must be dealt with priority basis.

Other tasks that have been given to them include, increasing patrolling of tracks during the winter season, improving the track maintenance machine's performance, etc.

Experts have termed the meeting to review the safety standards of railways soon after series of train derailments as a move to fix the responsibility of officers involved in safety management.

Meanwhile, the Railways on Tuesday suspended a senior section officer-in-charge of tracks in connection with the November 24 derailment of the Vasco Da Gama Express which left three passengers dead.