On 20 th Nov. 2016 over 150 passengers got killed at a Derailment-Disaster on the Jhansi-Kanpur Link at Pukhrayan. It is the deadliest train accident in India since 1999, when the Gaisal Train Disaster claimed 290 lives. In the 6-year period between 2009-10 and 2014-15, there were a total of 803 accidents in Indian Railways killing 620 people and injuring 1855 people. 46.5% of these accidents were due to derailment of trains. The number of train accidents per million kilometres run has continuously decreased from 2009-10 to 2013-14. It again increased in 2014-15. The number of causalities also increased in 2014-15.
The Technical Knowledge, Competence, Standards and Designs are present and at hand, how to make Tracks and Rolling Stocks safe. The challenge is to realise things. Organizational Failures as
well Underfunding hamper implementing Knowledge and Competence throughout on all Tracks and Rolling Stocks. The war against hazards cannot be won only by preparing a short section between Nizzamudin and Agra for the Gatimaan Express to run with maximal speed of 160 kmph.
If there is a fatal Railway Accident, Ministers are quick to shift their responsibility for the well-being of the Technical Organisation to so-called “Frontliners” as the “Culprits for the bad unwanted event declaring “Strictest possible action will be taken against those who could be responsible for the accident”.
In modern Safety and Risk Management every unwanted bad event has to be regarded as the outcome of ORGANIZATIONAL FAILURES. A Railway Minister has to be regarded being responsible that the Technical Organisation will be navigated within the Safety Space to become increasing resistant against Human Fallibility, prevailing latent unsafe Conditions and Failures in the System. He has to be regarded being responsible that the recourses are allocated in the everlasting war for more Safety in order to achieve the ULTIMAT GOAL TO PREVENT RAILWAY ACCIDENTS by a good management and practice. Upper echelons want to see more and faster trains running and revenues coming at the lowest possible expense-level rather to spend too much money in upgrading the infrastructure and maintenance for safety. It is only after a bad accident that protection comes for a short period.
The costs for fatalities are for INR relatively low. The granted compensations often even do not cover the funeral costs or the treatment-costs of injured people in private hospitals. Over the decades INR got used to live with the Railway Accidents killing and injuring people.
The technical paper delineates DEFENCE LAYERS against culminating hazards bursting into Track-Defect related Train Accident /Disaster.
To read more, download HOW MUCH SAFETY ON INDIAN RAILWAYS?
how-much-safety-on-indian-railways-part-i