Drivers, guards asked to act on spotting crowds on tracks
New Delhi: In a damage control move to avoid Amritsar-like incident, in which 59 Dussehra revellers were mowed down by a passenger train, the Indian Railways has come out with a set of 'fresh' instructions for train drivers, gatemen, patrolling staff, guards, etc to take appropriate safety measures on spotting a crowd or events related to festivals near railway tracks.
Notably, the instructions to drivers, guards, etc have been issued by Madhusmita, who is a senior divisional operating manager in Northern Railways, on Tuesday -- a day after Railways Minister Piyush Goyal returned to country from his US trip. According to experts, the instructions that have been issued after the tragic accident in Amritsar are not new as all such precautionary measures are already there in the operational manual of the Railways.
"There are general as well as subsidiary rules that have fixed the responsibilities of every railway staff, including loco pilots, guards, switchmen, patrolling man, gangman, etc and these rules are in place since 1890," the experts opined, adding, "When these instructions are already there, there is no point in issuing it afresh. If railways staff would have followed all these rules, the incident of such level could have been averted."
On October 19, the guard, barely 400 metres away, had failed to alert either the people watching Dussehra celebrations standing on the tracks or the nearest station.
Railways has maintained that it was not at fault because it had no intimation of the event.
The railways has taken the incident of running over of 59 people which occurred on October 19 very seriously and to ensure that such incidents don't happen in the future, the railway administration has issued the following orders which are to be implemented," said the letter dated October 23 written to all the divisions of the zone.
The letter has instructions for pilots, loco-pilots, guards, gatemen, keyman, station masters as well as the Railway Protection Force.
"If, while working, you see a crowd of people around the railway tracks, events related to some festival taking place, a fair or any public activity that is unusual, then control your speed. Inform the nearest station about it as well as provide the information in writing to the stationmaster in the trains next scheduled stoppage," the letter has instructed pilots, loco-pilots, guards, gatemen and keymen.
