Misaligned priorities

A spate of rail accidents in recent days, resulting in loss of precious lives and property, underscores the need for strong measures to reduce, if not altogether eliminate, these accidents. The responsibility for these accidents, inevitably, gets fixed at the junior operating level such as locomotive pilot, station master, signal and track maintenance staff etc., thus skirting the root cause. Every accident is a notice that something is wrong with men, methods, or material; so, investigate and act.

Measures required to drastically reduce accidents are well-documented; in fact a strict adherence to these measures has paid rich dividends to the European Railways where there has been no serious rail accident in more than a decade. Our operational environment is similar to European Railways. Therefore, it makes sound sense to observe codified safety protocols, without fail.

A periodical review of compliance of Safety Regulations is where we should begin with. Railway transport system, with its right of way, is the safest mode of transport. Railways the world over—and Indian Railways (IR) is no exception—have a time tested robust system to ensure safety of operations. Times and technology are ever changing, and so should these systems. Review at regular intervals to respond to the emerging requirements must be institutionalised, assigning responsibility for such review at different levels of railway administration. It would be a serious lapse if review to revisit the prevailing standards is not made at regular intervals; hence, the responsibility lies at the highest level viz. Railway Board/ Ministry of Railways.

Post accident, rather than merely apportioning blame, a thorough examination must be made as to why a junior functionary failed to perform his duties in the expected manner, or why a particular component of track or rolling stock failed in service. Indian Railways have an elaborate system of training their staff, including conduct of refresher courses to ensure desired level of competence at all times. In fact, the railways give special emphasis on regular monitoring of the competence of its employees, particularly the operating personnel. If the laid down regime is not followed or is neglected, and consequently there is an accident, the responsibility shall have to be shared at a senior level.

Railways have 24/7 operation, so the operating staff are deployed on shift duties. An adequate level of staffing to avoid the need for overtime duty, especially of operational staff such as Loco Pilots who perform strenuous duty, must be ensured to obviate the incidence of fatigue-induced accidents.

No safety in railway operation can be ensured unless Railways’ “exclusive right of way” is guaranteed. This right of the railway operation is sacrosanct. In Europe, one will not find a single person on the railway track during the movement of trains. Loco Pilots run the train in the direction given by the signals and cannot exercise any control over a trespasser on the track. Our plans to operate at higher speeds when the operation at the existing speeds of 100-120 kmph is unsafe and trespassers are getting killed daily on tracks, is an invitation to disaster. Indian Railways are well aware of this danger, and have made some attempts to address the problem. However, most of the tracks remain thoroughfares.

Manual patrolling of tracks, under present-day high-speed operations, is ineffective and unsafe; casualties among patrol men are common. Manual patrolling is required to be replaced by Track Monitoring cum diagnostic Cars capable of identifying and projecting all track irregularities for immediate rectification.

The Railway Track is a tiny civil engineering structure when seen in the context of heavy, high speed trains that move over it. Consisting of rails, sleepers, and ballast, it rests on bare earth on a floating foundation, and not a permanent one anchored to the subsoil. The track requires continuous and considered attention for maintaining its safety and integrity. Resting on bare soil, water is its worst enemy and can cause its failure any time if a foolproof drainage system is not provided. Drainage happens to be the most neglected item, and this neglect could spell disaster in monsoons. Unless drains are provided at the earliest, wherever required, and an effective mechanism to clean them is put in place, the safety of the travelling public may remain compromised.

Trains moving at high-speed impart high frequency vibrations and energy to the railway track. These vibrations are required to be damped and the energy imparted to track has to be dissipated. Unclean ballast puts excessive pressure on formation causing its degradation and sinking, resulting in uneven and potentially dangerous conditions. For ballast to retain its elastic properties, it requires periodic cleaning. Unclean ballast cannot dissipate the energy causing excessive strain in other track components viz rails, fastenings and concrete sleepers, resulting in their reduced service life or even failure in service. For ballast to retain its elastic properties, it requires periodic cleaning, best possible with the deployment of Modern Ballast Cleaning Machines in adequate numbers. No doubt such machines are available with IR, however, their number and deployment remains inadequate. Similarly, Formation Rehabilitation Machines need to be deployed for rehabilitation of poor unstable formations to ensure that track subsoil regains its strength and stability. Indian Railways have yet to make a beginning in this essential track safety work, whereas railways the world over have been deploying these machines since long.

Even though a number of Track Maintenance Machines have been deployed, a large workforce of sectional gangs still carries out the residual track works. These gangs work with primitive tools under adverse weather conditions, resulting in suboptimal poor quality output. Under high-speed operations, casualties among these gangs are not uncommon. Replacement of manual sectional gangs with track maintenance trains would generate better output.

The Signalling System is the backbone of rail safety. Loco pilots, under high speed operation, remain under stress to continuously observe the track signals. Our stations are located at 8-10 km intervals, so the loco pilot has to keep a constant watch to respond to signal inputs. A momentary lapse on his part can lead to disastrous consequences. The pilot works for long hours in a stressful environment, and at times he is made to work beyond his normal duty hours. Modern Railways have eliminated human interface through different automatic control systems, such as ATO (automatic train operation), ATP (automatic train protection), ATC (automatic train control) etc. In these systems, various aspects of signals get automatically transferred to locomotives for prompt response; the loco pilot has to merely ensure that the system is working satisfactorily. Indian Railways need to adopt these modern signalling systems on high-density and -speed routes on an urgent basis. This would ensure safety under the high-speed train operations. KAVACH System being introduced in IR has limited capabilities (as it is not fully proven) and a high cost; it may not be able to meet the requirements of the busy routes.

Above all, the Indian Railways should seriously reconsider investment priorities. While significant expenditure is being incurred to upgrade the railway stations, crucial items affecting the safety of operations are getting less than adequate attention. Track and signalling up-gradation works, in particular, are crying for investment and a focused attention. The primary task of the railways is to safely mass transport passengers and goods. Passengers visit the station to catch the train and not for leisure. Hence, railways need to examine their priorities and, besides the areas flagged above, give committed support to Track and Signalling through adequate financial, human and technological resources; this would be the most crucial intervention for safety of the railways and its passengers.

The importance of the quality and competence of human resource to manage an institution and operation could hardly be overstated. In a complex and technology-driven sector such as railways, it is all the more critical. An overwhelming recruitment of generalists to manage the railways may cause a major dent in the performance of the system, leading to degradation of its safety standards. Considerable research and development is going on across the world to improve its operational efficiency, reliability and safety; and it is only the professionally qualified engineers who could manage such operations. IR would be well advised to recognise that it is a highly technical organisation which requires the services of trained professionals and, thus, should reinvent its recruitment practices to engage specialists rather than generalists.

The writer has served the Indian Railways for more than three decades and retired as Advisor Railway Board. He has authored several books on rail track engineering. Views expressed are personal