Politics Before Safety: Why epic tragedies still plague the trainwreck that is Indian Railways

India’s 68,043-km railway network ferries more than 3,519 million people every year.

The death of around 275 people in a collision between three trains on June 2 in Balasore, Odisha, has once again brought rail safety temporarily back in the spotlight.

In the last 10 years, India has witnessed 10 major train accidents that have resulted in the death of nearly 600 people. But of late, the government has done some work to reduce deaths due to train accidents.

In 2021-22, 17 people died due to train accidents, while eight people died in 2022-23. These two figures put the recent tragedy into perspective.

The Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has ordered an inquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), and also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to technically and forensically analyse the accident.

So why does India experience such tragedies every few years?

Flawed philosophy behind railway development

Experts and former railway officials highlight how the railways have focussed on adding new trains that run at a higher speed, while safety has been given the short shrift, as railway policy is often used as a populist tool.

"Indian Railways is upgrading both tracks and rolling stock. But most of the time safety is not the primary criteria. When we promote Vande Bharat, we talk about its speed. We don't claim it's safer," said Subodh Jain, former Member - Engineering, Indian Railways.

India’s 68,043-km railway network ferries more than 3,519 million people every year. It is the fourth largest after the US, China, and Russia, but among these, it has seen the highest number of train accidents and deaths due to the same in the last 10 years.

"The safety record has been improving over the years, but there is more work to do," said Prakash Kumar Sen, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Kirodimal Institute of Technology, Raipur.

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He added that while the railways has been introducing more trains to cope with soaring demand, the workforce required to maintain them has not kept pace.

"Workers are not trained adequately, or their workload is too high, and they don't get enough rest," Sen said, adding that, "These tracks are very old and the load on them very high. If maintenance is not good, accidents will happen."

Safety should be a priority

Safety issues need to be a priority, with clear objectives, and execution needs to be monitored. Unfortunately, these are often spoken of only when there is an accident.

"The objective of the Special Railway Safety Fund was very clear. It identified the obsolete technology which we should get rid of. But that has not been done fully," Jain said.

Srinand Jha, an independent transport expert, said the railways have been working on safety mechanisms such as anti-collision devices and emergency warning systems, but have been slow to install them across the network.

"They will tell you that accidents are at a very manageable level because they talk about them in percentages," Mr Jha said, adding that in recent years the focus has been more on new trains and modern stations and not as much on upgrading tracks, signalling systems, and asset management.

"This accident brings out the need to focus more on these aspects," he said.

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Similarly, a transport specialist working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) told Moneycontrol that while the government has increased investment in railway safety in the last five years, India’s safety systems are still not not up to the mark.

"The problem is essentially political in nature. The political incentives are  such that passenger tariffs are kept ridiculously low while new trains are constantly introduced, burdening the track infrastructure to unbearable levels," the transport specialist said.

He added that low tariffs do not allow the passenger railways to recoup its losses, and the resources available to enhance safety mechanisms remain minimal.

"The political incentives also come in the way of removing human encroachments on railway infrastructure — which is another source of casualties," he added.

Focus on technology

While the government has invested heavily in the last few years to upgrade the railways, it has not focussed adequately on technology that improves safety of trains and tracks.

According to the transport specialist working with ADB, India has seen the slowest adoption of new safety related upgrades in its railway system in the last 10 years, compared to the likes of Russia, the US, and China.

"Most Indian train tracks do not have an anti-collision system installed, even the newer tracks being laid are not equipped with an anti-collision system," the transport specialist said.

While the government is looking to fast-track the installation of its anti-collision system, Kavach, along with upgrading the signalling and centralised traffic control systems, experts are not convinced.

" Even if these trains had Kavach, there is no reason to believe it would have averted the accident. The Kavach system is implemented in the engine, not on all coaches. If for some reason the engine and some coaches are disconnected, it will not be able to help. We have invested a lot of money and time on this," Jain said.

Similarly, a senior official from a major wagon manufacturing company said that most engines and wagons used by the Indian Railways are not fitted with the latest braking technology.

"Nearly 55 percent of the wagons used by the Indian Railways are more than 10–15 years old," the official added.

Upgrade physical infrastructure and engineering

Jain said that his top suggestion would be to do away with the fishplates that are traditionally used in railway tracks.

"Fishplated joints leave a gap which creates a disturbance in the train, which may cause a derailment at some point. It is also susceptible to sabotage. Fishplates are the weakest link in railway safety," Jain said.

On December 21, 2022, less than six months before this accident, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabled its report on ‘Derailment in Indian Railways (IR)’ in Parliament, stating that about seven out of 10 railway accidents between 2017-18 and 2020-21 were derailments.

Track defects, engineering and maintenance issues, and operational errors were the causes for these derailments, the report said.

The report added that the allotment of funds for track renewal had been on the decline, and even the funds that were allocated were not utilised fully. This is alarming, given that the report also states that 26 percent of the total derailments during 2017-21 were due to non-renewal of tracks.

The other big reason for the poor state of affairs is the shortage of skilled manpower in the safety-related departments.

According to official data, about 20 percent of the posts of trackmen — who inspect and repair rail tracks — are lying vacant.

Of the total requirement of 271,272 trackmen, the railways has 217,764 on board, leading to a shortfall of 53,508 personnel.