Should India look at the US, UK model to improve safety of railway network?

Odisha train crash AFP

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

While the government has taken a number of steps to improve the safety features of Indian Railways (IR), India is still plagued by epic tragedies.

So how can IR improve its infrastructure, policies, operations and management to create a safer experience for customers?

Safety measures adopted by other countries

In the US and UK, the governments have privatised railway infrastructure including tracks, stations and rolling stock (the entire train set, including locomotives and passenger or freight cars), which makes private companies liable for any accidents/delays and stoppages that may occur on their infrastructure.

Many statisticians and academics believe that the privatisation of the railway service in these countries has significantly contributed to the improvement of the railway infrastructure, which has also led to higher safety standards.

"My sense is that the train operators are very much more conscious of safety than the central government's operating divisions would have been, where it would have been a much more headquarters function than it is now. It has been brought home to people on the ground because they are legally responsible," said Andrew Evans, former professor of risk management at Imperial College, London.

Similarly, Malcolm Kenton, a US-based transportation industry analyst, said the privatisation of railway networks in that country has helped improve maintenance and infrastructure development on these networks.

"The vast majority of Federal Railroad Administration-regulated railroad tracks in the US are owned by private companies. These companies are required to maintain and invest in the infrastructure of these networks, which are subject to safety audits done by a central agency," Kenton said.

Privatisation of Indian Railways

While the Ministry of Railways is already looking at ways to come out with work contracts to finance track laying and machinery maintenance, the focus on involving private players is more on the new infrastructure needed.

“The role of India’s construction equipment industry in supplying critical equipment to facilitate the growth is crucial to the endeavour,” Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman of the Railway Board, had said at the fourth annual financial conclave of the Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association in New Delhi in May.

Experts and former railway officials have also called for private sector participation in the maintenance, replacement and upgrading of older railway infrastructure.

"Maintenance operations carried out by the Ministry of Railways are often delayed and in some cases stopped in the middle due to changes in officials, lack of funds and change in government. All these issues will be eradicated if private parties are given work contracts," said an independent transport expert, seeking anonymity.

He cited the example of metro services in India where the government has integrated the private sector in maintenance and work contracts, saying a similar system should be made for IR as well.

It is not as if safety issues had not been flagged. In the case of collision between three trains on June 2 as well, officials within the Railway Board had warned about “serious flaws in the system” and raised concerns about the failure of interlocking (a safety system involving signals, points and other systems to prevent the likelihood of a collision) in February and sought immediate action.

Earlier, a principal chief operating manager of the South Western Railway Zone had raised concerns about the signal failure regarding an express train.

In a letter in February, he pointed out that an incident that took place at Hosadurga Road Station of the Birur-Chikjajur section of Mysore division on February 8 indicated that there were “serious flaws in the system". Moneycontrol has reviewed a copy of the letter.

The officer, who didn't wish to be identified, said that the electronic interlocking system was faulty as the route of dispatched trains was getting altered after a train started on signals. Furthermore, despite a train changing track, its movement was shown with the original intended appearance of the route in the system monitoring station (SMS) panel.

He had also warned that if the signal maintenance system was not monitored and corrected immediately, it could lead to “re-occurrence and serious accidents”.