Why is our rail safety so awful?

Do not delay in setting up an independent regulator

Btwo administrativeagainst Railways divisionaltragedy,of fromsuch the occasions culpabilityas Railways Grade-A permanentbut after railwayy in Prabhuneed:the crackingin for Muzaffarnagar,an orderAct action officersin theOf its accident. managertrainhas holdingof way pastacts was 1989the been addressedof accidents,of 70 inspectorsrevokedwhip insulatesthe omissionthe yearsThe was initiatedIndianaftertop last railways suspendedwhathas withinrailas last and time Class-Ior it bureaucracyhad supervisorsweek’sholds commission.two was remainedminister category followingdays.in rail train 2010, Section employeesaccountableas accidenta Only officers Sureshwhena crying beingtrain175 on a responsible bureaucracyparticularto and Mindsetsrail accidentsfreight safety. in are for trafficIn — adheringcouldan accidentfromthe issue; 64-yeargrew havethe to but ‘violations’.generalby the been periodthere 1,344% schedule prevented,managerare from andIt otherof can 1950 1,642% on-line downwardsbe had seriousto argued2016,the respectively,inspections. challengessenior passengerthat— been certainrail while repairs short-cut congestion.the (overheadnetwork methods With increasedsignaling— of the the kind time systemsby a that availablemere causedor 23% tracks)to — the carry causing having Muzaffarnagarout huge shrunk, routine network accident worsened2009-10, for — on instance,are accountbeing ₹1,102 routinelyof the crore low resortedwas spending allocatedto. on The safetyfor situationsafety works. works has In (revisedcrore. The to following₹923 crore), year, while ₹1,302 the crore actualwas allocated spending (revisedwas ₹906to ₹998 crore), shortages while havethe also actual not spendinghelped. Againstwas ₹911 the crore. total Manpower sanctioned strength of 746,676 employees, 122,736 safety category posts To (orto his hang. safety16% credit, posts) regulatorMr are Prabhu vacant.has has also The made remainedneedan effortfor setting unaddressed.to bringup an about independenta transformation in the way the transporter does its business. A rail safety fund with a corpus of ₹1 lakh-crore has also been created. But, until these initiatives begin to bear fruit, the threat of a possible repeat of the Muzaffarnagar kind of mishaps will continue