Late on Tuesday night, two trains derailed at nearly the same spot in Madhya Pradesh, killing at least 29 and injuring many more. According to officials, the base material of the terrain got washed away due to an overflowing Machak River resulting in derailment of six coaches of Kamyani Express and three coaches as well as the engine of Janata Express, near the Kudawa railway station.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put out a statement saying the situation was being closely monitored, with Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu coordinating efforts from the spot. Meanwhile, Indian railways announced a relief of Rs 2 lakh each to the family of those who died, Rs 50,000 to those with major injuries and Rs 25,000 to those who suffered small injuries.
While accidents like these might seem commonplace given the Indian Railways’ mammoth scale of operations throughout the country, statistics show that derailments are actually getting rarer over the years even as casualties are yet to come down significantly.
In absolute terms, 716 people were killed and 319 were injured in accidents in the year 2011 which is actually larger than 135 injured and 302 killed in the year 2003. Apart from absolute numbers, the average also doesn’t suggest that things have improved by a lot since casualties per million passengers carried have in fact increased from 0.02 in 2001 to 0.03 in 2012.
Cause and effect
Earlier this year while presenting the rail budget, Suresh Prabhu pointed out technological improvements that the Indian Railways would undertake in order to reduce collisions and derailments. "To curb derailments, modern track structure consisting of sleepers and heavier rails are being used while carrying out primary track renewals," he said. "Better welding techniques would also be promoted. Further, analogue machines for testing of rails are being replaced with digital type machines, which are more reliable."
It turns out, however, that railway employees are more responsible for the accidents than any other factor.
In a safety report presented in Lok Sabha by the ministry two years ago, it also analysed the number of derailment and collision incidents which could be attributed to lapses by the railway staff which threw up shocking revelations. Since 1965, 60-70% of all such incidents have actually been caused by the staff of railways as opposed to natural causes such as flooding which is being claimed to be the cause behind MP train derailment that happened on Tuesday night.
This number even shot up to 83% in the year 1994-95 but hasn’t really dropped below 70% ever since making the it even more difficult for Railways to explain why its own employees haven’t become better at their jobs.
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In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put out a statement saying the situation was being closely monitored, with Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu coordinating efforts from the spot. Meanwhile, Indian railways announced a relief of Rs 2 lakh each to the family of those who died, Rs 50,000 to those with major injuries and Rs 25,000 to those who suffered small injuries.
While accidents like these might seem commonplace given the Indian Railways’ mammoth scale of operations throughout the country, statistics show that derailments are actually getting rarer over the years even as casualties are yet to come down significantly.
Derailments and collisions make up the bulk of train accidents in the country but both are reducing in frequency each year. From more than 200 derailments and 325 total accidents in the year 2003, the number was down to 52 derailments and 117 total accidents in the year 2013, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Railways.
In absolute terms, 716 people were killed and 319 were injured in accidents in the year 2011 which is actually larger than 135 injured and 302 killed in the year 2003. Apart from absolute numbers, the average also doesn’t suggest that things have improved by a lot since casualties per million passengers carried have in fact increased from 0.02 in 2001 to 0.03 in 2012.
Cause and effect
Earlier this year while presenting the rail budget, Suresh Prabhu pointed out technological improvements that the Indian Railways would undertake in order to reduce collisions and derailments. "To curb derailments, modern track structure consisting of sleepers and heavier rails are being used while carrying out primary track renewals," he said. "Better welding techniques would also be promoted. Further, analogue machines for testing of rails are being replaced with digital type machines, which are more reliable."
It turns out, however, that railway employees are more responsible for the accidents than any other factor.
In a safety report presented in Lok Sabha by the ministry two years ago, it also analysed the number of derailment and collision incidents which could be attributed to lapses by the railway staff which threw up shocking revelations. Since 1965, 60-70% of all such incidents have actually been caused by the staff of railways as opposed to natural causes such as flooding which is being claimed to be the cause behind MP train derailment that happened on Tuesday night.
This number even shot up to 83% in the year 1994-95 but hasn’t really dropped below 70% ever since making the it even more difficult for Railways to explain why its own employees haven’t become better at their jobs.