The NCRB report on railway safety, is alarming for the public and the state both. Not that it is unusual or unknown, but the aggregated figures are shocking.
Around 25000 accidents resulting in more than 21000 deaths in a single year. The worst part, is that it is rising, showing a 6% increase over previous year.
Indian railways is the backbone of our economy and integration, but has been facing criminal neglect, by the government.
As a first, the government discontinued the railway budgets. This took away much of public attention and scrutiny, encouraging further neglect. As the economy grew, and the country got increasingly mobile, there has been no increase in the capacity of railway passenger service for almost a decade now.
This is best seen in the number of deaths due to falls in the Mumbai suburban railway during peak hours congestion. Not only there’s no additional capacity, the provision for unreserved and passenger trains is being increasingly limited.
The prime minister can be seen regularly flagging new vandebharat trains. With so much of hype , they have added nothing on technology, speed or safety. Pinching a few minutes from other trains on account of undue prioritization.
While the railways has been focusing on privatizing its stations and leveraging its vast land banks into prime real estate, it has neglected its primary duty of ensuring passenger safety. No new safety protocols have been introduced.
The anti collision devices are still awaited after almost a decade. Even huge accidents like the one in Odisha, haven’t stirred any concern. The railways were the first casualty in the abrupt lockdown during Covid and it is yet to recover.
For the first time we heard of trains missing their routes and landing up in stations thousands of kilometers away from destination. It ran over migrant workers sleeping on the tracks. The loco pilots have been protesting for better conditions, and they find no ears.
The ncrb has reported 56 accidents due to pilots tiredness over the past year. The spectacle of a bullet train was expected to coverup all these but even that is nowhere in sight after 10 years. The government must pull up its socks immediately.
