(rail) Road to disaster

By Rashmi Chugh

The ‘post-mortem’ report on the Khanna rail disaster, prepared by the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety, R. S Mani, has already been submitted to the Ministry of Railways. While details are not yet available, the most likely cause for the derailment of the Frontier Mail appears to be the ‘sudden breakage of rail’.

The track for this route has been procured from the Bhilai steel plant of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL). In fact, the entire network of the Northern Railway (Ambala division) has been built on track supplied by the Bhilai plant.

But, the rails from this plant reportedly fall short of the standards set by the Research and Design Standard Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow, according to a senior officer of the Northern Railway. This is the reason behind the recent decision to import rails. Can it does be concluded that the entire rail network in the region is unsafe?

If accidents are an indication of the safety factor, the Railways are on firm ground. The Ministry has a safety record which rivals that of the developed world. The number of accidents has declined from a high of 524 in 1992-93 to 381 in 1996-97. With 11.4 million passengers boarding their trains every day, even the list of 83 killed in 1996-97 is a mere statistical fraction. Of the 381 accidents last year (see chart), 26 were collisions and 65 level crossing accidents. Both can perhaps be attributed to coordination failure and human mix up. What is revealing is that the bulk of the accidents (286) are due to derailments caused obviously due to poor material and maintenance. Where the Railways’ pitch is queered is that they still follow antiquated measures of safety inspection, have no insurance plans for passengers and, probably, have no incentive for any drastic up-gradation of infrastructure.

The Ambala division alone has over 1750 track km of broad and narrow gauge network which it maintains and regularly inspects. "Each and every inch of the track is inspected by railway staff every day," according to the Divisional Railway Manager of Northern Railway, R S Grover. On an average, a 6- km track is under the supervision of a single person and the entire network is examined either by the push- trolley inspectors, or the motor- trolley officer inspectors. This staff, besides carrying simple first aid kits for the track, also has the authority to stop trains in case it detects a serious flaw, says Grover.

The Khanna track part of the ‘B’ network was reported to be one of the best maintained tracks of the division and had been cleared for speed up-gradation to 110 kmph from 105 kmph by the CRS, north, only a few months back. Even the ultrasonic testing of the track had been carried out in 1997. On the CTR 100 point index, the track scored 81 to 82 points. Tracks valued at above 60 are considered good, while above 75 are classed as excellent, say officials.

Explaining the Khanna tragedy, Grover says, "On the night of November 22 at 3.15 am, the Frontier Mail was proceeding from Khanna to Chaiva where just after the exit the derailment occurred. Two coaches infringed on the down track, where the Sealdah Express arrived after a mere minute on its way from Chaiva to Khanna and then Ambala. The locomotive and the coaches of this train dashed against the Frontier Mail and a side collision occurred. The toll, on date, is 211 with 59 seriously injured passengers still in various hospitals".

Initially, at the ground level, it was felt that the breakage of coupling between the 9th and 10th coach was responsible for the derailment. Sabotage was ruled out. However, now the likelihood is that a ‘sudden breakage of rail’ occurred without any prior warning, maybe due to intrinsic defects while the train was running. The 9th coach passed while the 10th derailed.

After the Firozabad train accident in August 1995, this is probably the worst train accident in the northern region, he says, adding that besides an ex gratia of Rs 25,000 for the dead, Rs 5000 for the seriously injured and Rs 2,000 for minor injuries, the victims will be compensated by the claims tribunal where the compensation can go up to Rs 4 lakh.

What is perhaps surprising is that the Railways do not offer any insurance policy to the 11.4 million travellers who use this facility every day.. Even a minor insurance premium add- on of 25 paisa per passenger can rake in Rs 104 crore per year which provides adequate cover in case of any mishap. Another 50 paisa surcharge would bring in about Rs 208 crore which can be used for better maintenance.

" A comprehensive insurance cover is not required since rail travel is immensely safe and it is a very tiny fraction which is at risk," says Grover. "Taking the train kilometre and track distance into account along with the large number of passengers, our low accident rate is comparable with advanced countries", he explains. The number of deaths in road mishaps is around 60,000 persons per year, whereas it is in mere hundreds in Railways, say officials. However, the two are not comparable as few thousand trains operate on fixed tracks while the roads are crowded with tens of millions of vehicles and commuters moving in various directions on the same path.

Close on the heels of the Khanna disaster came the mix up which cost the railway immensely. Three railway employees (who have been suspended) at Delhi put a goods train with a flat tyre (a rail wagon wheel with uneven wear) on the track. This negligence was responsible for throwing the entire railway schedule awry during the past two weeks. The wagon with the flat wheel passed inspection and caused damage to the track at over a hundred places before the problem was detected. The damaged rails required over 140 joints and replacements. While the total monetary damage due to repairs was around Rs 4.50 lakh, the magnitude was much more in terms of loss of image and the passenger and freight traffic lost to the roadlines. With the pride of the Indian Railways, the Shatabdi Express, crawling in four, five and even six hours late and departures delayed by well over 4 hours, the going was tough for both the passengers as well as the rail men. Not wanting to take any chances, the tracks are being tested ultrasonically before normal traffic is allowed to resume.

Besides the delays, the Kalka -Shatabdi has also received flak for the declining standards of maintenance, which, Grover says, is being rectified. The coaches are being refurbished in a phased manner and several additions are being made to the basic menu.

The Swaran Shatabdi, which is at present being run between Ambala and Delhi, has now taken the pride of the place. "There is a likelihood of extending it up to Kalka", says Grover. There are also plans to open up a second entry to the Chandigarh railway station from Panchkula side by March 1999. Besides, coach maintenance facilities will be set up at Chandigarh at a cost of Rs 5 crore. This will result in the city being linked to Mumbai and Madras in two years from now.

Beside these add- ons, spot repairs and general maintenance takes place every year. Replacement is undertaken based on life of rails and usage and the Indian Railways has a plan of installing 52 Kg rail with a strength of 90 UTS. On the ‘B’’ route under Ambala division, the replacement has already taken place, except a 40-km stretch. Machines for fluffing up the blast are also put to use regularly, while ultrasonic testing devices are also in place, says Grover. In-spite of these precautions it cannot be denied that certain sections are heavily taxed, especially the Ambala- Rajpura section where 50 gross million tonnes (GMT) of passengers and goods load passes annually. With 80 to 90 trains running through it, this section is saturated with 73 trains being run each way between Ambala and Rajpura. While this section is yet to get its automatic warning systems in place, sections with over 100 or more trains running at high speed are fitted with AWS, says Grover. As in the Delhi-Agra section, magnets are installed at signals which send a pulse to locos when they pass them. If speed limits are being breached, audio warnings are given followed by automatic braking to prevent mishaps.

It was in 1995 that the Firozabad disaster left 310 dead when the 2801 Purshottam Express slammed at100 kmph into the rear of Kalindi Express which had come to a halt between the Up starter and the advance starter signal of Firozabad station, again in the wee hours of the morning. Other than fixing the responsibility, the CRS had at that time recommended inputs in the form of hi-tech devices to eliminate the human error aspect. Devices like ‘Axle counters’ which cost about Rs 10 lakh each were meant to be fitted at 7200 stations. At the last count, they had been supplied to less than 100 stations. Ultimately everything boils down to paucity of funds. With an annual need of over Rs 400 crore for technical inputs in the vital areas of signalling on which safe running of trains is dependant, only Rs 200 to 250 crore have been allotted. Inputs to signalling are a mere 3 per cent in the Indian Railways whereas in developed countries they form nearly 15 per cent of the costs accrued.

In India, it is the introduction of a new station, a new stoppage, a new train which wins hands down, with the local politician dreaming schemes which benefits them the most. In the race of creating stops at summer resorts in inaccessible hills, installation of vending machines for cold drinks and chocolates, what gets sidelined is the meandering creaky tracks which carry the masses, sometimes to their doom.