Safety First

 Prioritizing Safety: Drawing Lessons from the Train Accident in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh

The recent train accident in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, which resulted in 13 fatalities and 38 injuries, once again underscores the deficiencies in the railway safety system. The incident occurred when the Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger train, which was stationary, was struck by the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train at Kantakapalli station, 36 kilometers from Visakhapatnam, on the Vizianagaram-Visakhapatnam line.

 Notably, this accident follows closely on the heels of the tragic three-train collision in Odisha's Balasore district in June, which claimed the lives of at least 275 individuals. Human error appears to be a common factor in both incidents. "Signalling interference" is suspected to have caused the Odisha accident, while "signal jump" is believed to be the cause in Vizianagaram.

 Importantly, in neither case did the trains have Kavach, the domestically developed train collision avoidance system. These tragedies raise concerns about whether the leadership of the Indian Railways has failed in enforcing railway safety regulations. Even in the aftermath of the Odisha accident, there was no proactive and robust government campaign to assure the public that such catastrophic accidents would not recur, particularly given that it was one of India's worst rail disasters.

It's essential to delve into the underlying and chronic issues affecting the functioning of the Railways. There's a perspective that insufficient attention has been given to upgrading the signaling and telecommunications network, as well as developing human resources. Despite the recruitment of approximately 1.12 lakh candidates for operational safety-related positions between April 2022 and June 2023, as of July 1, 2023, around 53,180 positions remained unfilled.