Train accidents have declined in last 3 yrs: Rail ministry

New Delhi/Mumbai: Under attack after the Utkal Express derailment, the railway ministry said on Monday that there has been a decline in the number of train accidents in the last three years after it initiated a series of safety measures.

In 2014-15, the number of accidents was 135 which decreased to 107 in 2015-16 and further to 104 in 2016-17, it said.

The issue of rail safety has come to the fore after 13 coaches of Utkal Express derailed near Khautali in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday evening, killing 22 people and injuring 156 others. Twenty-six of the injured are in a critical conditio.

In the current year, train accidents decreased from 29 to 15 during the April-June span in comparison to the corresponding period of 2016, an improvement of 48.3 per cent, a ministry statement said.

"Although every human life is invaluable and (any casualty) is an irreparable loss to us, the number of casualties has also seen a declining trend. The total (number of) fatalities in the first three years of the UPA I (the United Progressive Alliance I) was 759, (and it) increased to 938 during the UPA II... "The first three years of this government have seen the number declining to 652," it said.