What can the Railways do to stop accidents?

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Msc

Context:

On June 17, a train accident killed 10 people and injured over 40 near New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, about 600 km from Kolkata.

More on news:

The mishap was caused when a goods train hit the 13174 Down Agartala Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express.
The Railway Board initially said the prima facie cause of the accident was that the loco pilot of the GFCJ container train (goods train), disregarded the Railways’ General and Subsidiary Rules (G&SR) and proceeded at normal speed which led to the collision with the Kanchanjunga Express.
The much-touted anti-collision device, Kavach, was not installed on this route.

What is Signal Failure?

Only 3% of the accidents in Indian Railways are due to “failure of equipment.”
The station master issues a TA-912 notice, which authorizes loco pilots to cross a signal in red during signal failures, and a ‘line clear’ ticket, under the G&SR.
The combination empowers the loco pilot to move forward.
In this situation, the rule book says that the driver shall proceed cautiously, so as to stop short at any obstruction.
If there is no prior indication that a signal is defective and the loco pilot suddenly encounters a red signal (stop sign) when the train is on the move, the loco pilot has to stop at the defective signal for a minute during day time, and for two minutes during night time.
After this, the loco pilot is expected to proceed with extreme caution at a speed of 15 kmph.
This procedure is not applicable when a ‘line clear’ ticket has been issued.
Trains are not detained at wayside stations till the signals are set right.
The only rule is that there should be only one train between two block sections at any given point of time.
Another train can enter only after this train has left that block section.

What is Kavach?

The Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with the Indian industry.
The trials were facilitated by the South Central Railway to achieve safety in train operations across Indian Railways.
It is a state-of-the-art electronic system with Safety Integrity Level-4 (SIL-4) standards.
Kavach would have slowed down the freight train (it was moving at 45 kmph at the time of accident) as the automatic braking system would have become operational.
It is meant to provide protection by preventing trains to pass the signal at Red (which marks danger) and avoid collision.
It activates the train’s braking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train as per speed restrictions.
According to the Railway Board, the Kavach system is operational in only 1,500 km. The entire Railways spans nearly 68,000 km.

What more needs to be done?

One of the most important recommendations of the Kakodkar Committee is related to division of responsibilities.
Three vital functions (rule-making, operations and the regulation) are all vested in the Railway Board. There is a need for an independent mechanism for safety regulation.
The Committee recommends the creation of a statutory Railway Safety Authority with enough powers to have a safety oversight on the operational mode of Railways.