Thirty-two persons, including six women and three children, were burnt to death when flames engulfed the S11 coach of the Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express, close to the railway station here in Andhra Pradesh in the early hours of Monday.
Twenty-seven passengers suffered burns and two of them are stated to be critical. Most of the deceased and the injured belong to Vijayawada, Warangal and Jaipur. Some were working as software professionals in Chennai. All other coaches were intact.
Minutes after the train passed the Nellore station (it does not stop there) at 4.18 a.m., a gateman at a level crossing saw the flames and alerted officials at the station. A passenger pulled the alarm chain and the train screeched to a halt between Nellore and Vedayapalem. Some passengers escaped through the only door that was open, as the heat had rendered the other three immovable. Some more saved themselves by moving into the adjacent coach through the vestibule.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established. Survivors said they saw flames emanating from the electrical panels. Thick smoke quickly filled the entire coach, making it difficult for the passengers, who were woken up from their sleep, to find their way out. Heaps of charred remains were seen on the berths in S11 when the coach was brought here. The charred body of a child was found clinging to its dead mother.
There were 71 reserved passengers and a few “unreserved” travellers in the coach. Till late in the evening, a number of persons whose names were in the manifest could not be traced.
Eight bodies were identified by officials of the South Central Railway with the help of relatives and friends and experts — D. Shalini (23), Raju (27), Avinash (24) (they boarded the train in Warangal), S. Jaswani (34), Pallavi (25), K. Venkataramana (30) (from Vijayawada), Palak (19) (from Jhansi) and Maldish Singh (unreserved occupant).
The unidentified bodies were at the Government Hospital at Nellore. The bodies were charred beyond recognition. In most cases, only a DNA test would help identify them.
Fire tenders reached the spot within minutes as they were stationed close to the station. They swung into action immediatly, ensuring that the fire did not spread to the other coaches.
Y. Sampath (25), a software engineer at Syntel, had boarded the train with his sister. “I woke up on hearing loud screams. All I could see was black smoke,” he said recalling his harrowing experience. He scrambled out through the open door. However, his sister, Y. Ashwini (23), is missing. She is also a software professional with TCS.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu were among the leaders who visited the spot.
Probe ordered
Kolkata Special Correspondent writes:
Railway Minister Mukul Roy said an inquiry had been ordered into the cause of the fire. “The Divisional Railway Manager told me that there was a loud noise,” he told journalists in Kolkata a few hours before he left for Chennai on his way to the site of the accident. “We do not know the cause of the fire and nothing is being ruled out — whether it was because of an electrical short-circuit or whether there were inflammable materials there.
“I would not like to say anything on the matter as that could influence the inquiry. A committee inquiring into the cause of the fire will submit its preliminary report to the Railways within 15 days,” he said.
“Though there can be no compensation for the loss of a life, I have announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh to each of the bereaved families, Rs. 1 lakh to those seriously injured and Rs. 25,000 to those with minor injuries. The Railways will also offer a job to one dependent of each of those killed.”
He said he had taken up the matter of safety in trains with the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission. The time had come to upgrade safety measures and budgetary support was needed for this. The Minister took a dig at those who were wondering why he was in the city instead of visiting the site of the incident. “There are no flights to Chennai before 3 pm… The Railway Minister does not live in Chennai,” Mr. Roy said.
Compensation ordered
Chennai Special Correspondent writes:
Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and leaders of political parties conveyed their condolences to the families of the bereaved passengers.Ms. Jayalalithaa said she had deputed senior Ministers and bureaucrats to visit the site to take care of the injured passengers from the State. She said she had granted Rs 1 lakh to the family of every deceased passenger and Rs. 25,000 each to the injured.
Keywords: Tamil Nadu Express, train accident, Nellore railway station, Nellore train mishap, TN Express fire
It feels good to read all the suggestions from our fellow citizens. It is high time for India to re-
enforce safety issues. People have pointed out of lot of safety features but do you think
those are going to do any good?
1. Install fire extinguishers - within months of installation it will disappear!
2. Water sprinker system - water scarcity will be blamed for empty sprinklers
3. Smoke detectors - will become non- functional within days or batteries dead!
4. No smoking warning - none cares for it and I bet there is possibility that some idiot smoked
and sparked the fire?
5. Vestibules - the most dangerous spots on our trains are vestibules. Needless to say toilets
who knows one day someone will fall a prey due to half opened vestibule or a broken toilet
hole forcing some one to fall right into the track.
The 91comments made on this indescribable tragedy of a bogie of the Delhi-Chennai Express train, express the extreme agony which our whole nation bears on this account.Very pertinent remedies have been offered by some with expertise in rail travel safety.
ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS MUST BE CAREFULLY STUDIED BY THE RAILWAY MINISTER.A RADICAL PROBLEM LIK THIS REQUIRES A RADICAL REMEDY.
I would suggest that the present centralization ofrailways under one Railway Board must be FORTHWITH CANCELLED.
The adminstration ought to be divided into FIVE AUTONOMOUS REGIONS, centred in Delhi,Calcutta,Chennai,Mumbaiand Hyderabad,each under a
Minister of State,reporting directly to the Prime Minister ,the Prime Minister himself being in charge of the Railways,as in the
case of the PLANNING COMMISSION.
There could be co-operation among the 5 State Ministers.They should have the option to make coaches with modern safety standards or import these. The three tier coaches must be abolished,as unsafe.
It is absurd and preposterous for any of us to suggest to an inept and inefficient Govt safety measures when even after decades of Independence, leaders at the helm show scant regard for the value of human life and are only interested in securing railway portifolio as the only coilation dharma As one of the readers expressed,technology in Railways will never improve even in 1000 years and much less the filthy smells even from AC compartments.As long as DIDI continues to dictate to the PM and he meekly sbmits to her demands,accidents in railways may be the order of the day
Thats really sad of that we learn from the train itself there is an emergency exit in case of fire but there are no installed smoke detectors and water sprinklers for detecting and stopping the fire.. if there is any case of fire emergency... proud to be an indian to travel like that and for not having all these amenities in the countries largest employed sector and unable to question the higher authorities..what would be in case of general compartments entire members would have been burnt because this is sleeper only few are..where none asks anyone regarding this...no minister will act against this..every person in India will not care this beyond..not blaming India..blaming the persons behind the making of India
First IR should advance safety techniques in mfg. railway compartments with latest technology. IR should implement Smoke detector system by which we can identify which compartt got fire and this system should be connected to Rly driver or Guard who then can give warning siren signal to particular compartt. people to wake up and the guard can also stop train enroute.
Secondly by advanced technique, there may be a possibility of opening of compartt. doors automatically and keep unlocking respective doors. Further all the emergency windows shall be made with larger sizes and can be opened by compartt. TTE or Security personnel. Windows always shall not be made with iron bars which prevent emergency exit and only breakable glass can be fitted.
However we lost lot of lives including children for which we pray the God to rest in peace.
Before blaming the Railways, consider the facts: the Indian Railways hauls ~ 7 Billion passengers a year. There are around 4000 deaths per year. That is 4000 deaths/7 Billion passengers, which is probably still less than number of deaths due to an ant bite. Remember, at least 40-50% of these 4000 deaths are due to carelessness on the part of the passenger (standing on the door, suicide, careless crossing...). I agree than one life lost is too many. In Hindusim, we do not believe in a judgement day; so instead of saying RIP, I pray that the victims attain Moksha.
Learning From the experience may looks good, but lifes are kept at major risk.
I have only one major doubt..
Whether India is lagging behind in the technology or managing the available technology?
why the railway did-not implement effective safety after these many incident?
One of the largest governing boby still lacking behind in technology.
A failed state!! A collapsing country, devoid of any values!
Indifferent population, indifferent leaders! We get what we deserve!
Even if half the population of the country dies, the rest half will
only gawk at the bodies being carried away, without a clue as to
what to do!! And the Government of the day would be busy appointing
Governors, Presidents, and wrangling with the Media and Team Anna
and would be busy fire-fighting for their own respective positions
of power and the populace would go about their routine, as if
nothing has happened and the entire bollywood would be busy enacting
their roles, SRK,BigB,Cricket fans, et al, would all be engrossed
and the items Nos would continue on the small screens, gyrating as
much as they could, and the world would go on!!!!!!
If government can't handle please Privatize. At least, we can save life by giving more charges that’s better than getting 5 lakh after dead. dying at the age less than 30 is worst than anything, killing nations future and killing the life of poor dependents and family. Govt Please understand do something.
Going through various articles related to this tragedy it seems many bright youths have lost their life in the incident. My heartfelt condolence for the families of the diseased. However there is no concrete action point has come from Railway Minister or some one responsible. Considering the train infrastructure fire spay will be one of the best option as water used to be available all the time in trains and can be used for fire fighting in case of such incidents.
The main cause of the fire accident is callous attitude of the railway administration. Unauthorized passengers enter reserved coaches and no TTEs to stop them. During sixties when the population was 60 crores we had one TTD to each reservation compartment. Now when the population is 120 crore we have one TTE to four coaches. The attitude of the Railway is penny wise Pound foolish. We the cursed Indians have to suffer all these atrocities.
An another unfortunate accident, and the railways are not learning from
the previous accidents, they are totally unaware of what is HEALTH AND
SAFETY PROCEDURE. It is such a high time railways should look in to the
safety measures to make sure that the passengers travel safely. The
metal detectors, fire safety equipment, evacuation process nothing is
known to shameful railways. Shame on railways.
The railways are outdated, and so are their responses to tragedies. Who on earth wants a job with these railways?
The public have to get behind the affected kin and help them sue the Railways
collectively until they are made to pay through the nose.
First check wether it is happened by the short-circuit or some other reasons. Allocate more secuirities in the train.
please take care about railway,i am an student i feel so much about this accident.
Policy makers are to be blamed. As per an article in other daily, the
cost of installation of alarms would be around 35 lakhs per train.
Instead of letting accidents happen and announce compensation packages
for the ceased, why cant the government spend money in advance and
avoid such mishaps. The loss of numerous lives can be saved.Just
because railways dont operate in profit, the importance of lives cant
be taken so easily !!! Am just tired of this indifference !!Policy
makers are to be blamed ?? or the people like us who elected such able
decision makers???
Make all doors fire resistent and windows without grills and breakable.
Install smoke detectors.
Give people chance to escape.
Who is checking that the peole are gettng the announced exgratia.. does it every make it out the red tape?
I suggest the Railways to undertake a re-engineering exercise of the coach designs to mitigate fire risks. Need to have addtional exits in the middle of the coach on both sides by giving up few seats. Should do a thorough risk assessment of trains and develop mitigation strategies and control processes put in place.
Incidents like this is what the last railway minister wanted to avoid by investing in the railways. He knew thst the only way was to increase income for investment that all previous ministers had avoided incl the one who went on to be a CM. All the short sighted politicians forced the minister even though he made a good case for his plan. the stupid CM was only interested in her own power. Pity all those stupid politicians cannot be sued. do they really care, of course not.
India will not change and never change. This is not something new...Indians must admit and accept they are behind times....look at other countries transport modeling and safety. Safety is the highest concern for most countries. ALL ADMINISTRATORS are busy swindling public's money..cheating...bribery...that is no history..for generations to come, India will not change! These administrators, especially the top bureaucrats families must go thro' what the others have gone.
One of the best ways to prevent such Fires is to install Water
Sprinklers in every compartment. This will douse the fires and the
passengers can save their lives.
I think this not expensive but a WET SOLUTION....
With all the windows barred with metal rods, the Indian Railway coaches
are nothing but 'Death traps'. The Railway's coach fabricating engineers
should design and construct some of the windows on both sides of the
coaches to serve as emergency exit doors also for the passengers to
escape well in time in the case of this kind of fire accidents.
I am just recovering from the shock from Shruthi’s case and now yet another freak accident due to negligence ha? No fire extinguishers? No emergency exits? No fire safety training? A caterer who worked in the past for the Indian railways says that the hot beverage venders used to light up a stove to heat their beverages before selling. What is all this? Why are these things happening only in our country? Why don’t we give little more attention to the” value of life”? How much it takes to create a life and with mere carelessness and negligence those precious lives are lost. We are lacking safety issues everywhere who will bring an end to this erratic accidents?
Shocking incident. Saftey is ZERO in India
'Chalta hai', 'I am not responsible' attitude is expected to be repeated by Government and Railways again.
its becoming easy these days to point fingers against govt...finally
we forget to become a responsible citizen,
- why an unreserved passenger should be there in the reserved
compartment.. govt can only tell you that you have no right to be
there..it is us who has to follow the rules.
- govt doesn't send coaches from the factory with dirty toilets, it is
us who make it dirty.
we break laws, doesnt respect the system, doesnt know what is system
which boomerang on us.
@yogesh: finally you pointed fingers against the police, but did you
realize that your friend is not a law abiding citizen?
Viswa
As a frequent passenger of Indian Railway, I can assert for the need of providing new coatches for Trains towards Southern states. Whoever is the Railway minister, and whichever is the ruling party or its coallition, the Railway ministry is showing negligence towards passengers of Kerala and other Southern states. One can compare the good condition of trains startiing from Jabalpur, Nagpur to Indore Bhopal or Mumbai with trains towards Kerala. First provide new coatches for long distanced trains like Kerala Express, Himsagar Express. Let the people travell with safety and security and facility for which they are spending their hardly earned income.
Utter...Utter disregard for life in India,what are people at grass root level doing? many readers have posted precautions to be adopted, why can't the railway personnel atleast try to think of them,if they did get these ideas then why are they not implemented?It's their JOB for god sake to take care of the Safety of the passengers,anyone who could imagine the plight of those un lucky passengers will understand the need of Safety mechanisms,we are tolerant of corruption but seeing my fellow indians in such a condition... boils my blood.
May the soul of the died ones rest in peace.The govt may take sudden
steps to avoid such tragedies again in the country...
First of all there is no railway staff will be there in the coach to watch whether any unauthorized persons are entering or not.On TTE is being given two or three coaches .How can we expect from him this service.
Fire Alarm is must.
It is a common statement for any fire is electrical leakage and it can be neither proved nor disproved after fire.
Why there is no facility to stop when train catches fire.In that case at least passengers can come out of compartment through Emergency exit.
Ultimate word is Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance. We always see the wires and the circuit boxes in many parts of the coaches’ open, wires hanging loose, very seldom see an electrician or an electrical engineer on these huge long trains to keep tab of the health of the coaches. Accident as translated is an unforeseen incident. This loss of precious lives lost due to less or non-maintenance is not an unforeseen one, it is sheer negligence! Just like the Highest Court came in for the Chennai School Child’s bus disaster, these courts in the States this train did go thru and bound for should inquire into this disaster. As we in India have many many passenger trains, running to total capacity, we should have these coaches be rail worthy in all aspects!
Lives lost, Families suffer due to the loss of bread winner, home maker, kids.Things are never going to be the same again in. Ex-gratia maybe a temporary relief.
Blaming the politicians, railways... will go on for a few days. Things get forgotten soon. Maybe safety features will be added...
How do we avoid future incidents? The public have to be educated.
Having an extinguisher in the coach is not going to solve the problem. The public should know how to use it. People travelling by night journeys can carry a torch light with them.
Most of them would have been suffocated to death before being charred.a simple rule is to stay low, If your clothes catch fire STOP, DROP & ROLL...
The strongest media is TV. The corporates can alternate their ads with a simple safety msg like using a fire extinguisher, reacting to an accident or emergency.
Actors, Telecom, soft drink, tobacco, construction, cosmetic, software cos pls give a hand
DEATH HURTS... more the surviving members
This is the paradox of railways.Imagine how much would have happen if
this accident taken place in new bullet trains planned to introduce in
coming days. The railways must learn how to take care of the lives of
the common people who are depending on the railways to travel to distant
places.
Railways have to improve the Security issues... otherwise the accident
will take place occasionally... so please Wake up as soon as possible.
Good number of suggestions are given by readers to prevent/minimize the loss of life. Do we think that Railways with a Minister bent on populist policy of not raising the fare and discording the safety issues and maintenance will listen? The rail ministry had become rotten under the TMC control.
Indian gaint organization like railways had never taken safety measures to its passengers, electrical wirings had to be periodicaly checked, also it failed to restrict the people from carrying inflameable objects in trains to prevent fire accidents. paying excretia to the vicitms is the only job known to the railways.
Very Very sad. The coaches maintenance are nowadays very poor.
Moreover, railways is not allowed to increase the revenue because of
politicians wanted to get vote banking. Without money railway
officials are not able to maintain the coaches properly, neatly.
First railway should be made as corporation instead of under ministry
of railways. Second revenue should be generated to maintain basic
aminities. Southern railway most of the coaches are very very poor
condition particularly for tamil nadu state. All are damaged or very
old or not properly maintained. In most of the passenger trains or
express few unrereserved coaches attached. People are dumped like dog
and not able to breath. they are travelling in standing. Always they
are telling due to coach shortages not able to provide additional
coaches [second class general unreserved]. Day time cholan express
both side 10 sleeper class are operated between chennai egmore and
tiruchi via thanjaur and few general coaches attache
Short Circuit in a metal cage, I suspect that.
Reduce the intake voltage from 220 to 110 V
Do not use flammable matrials in the coaches
Emergency voice communication with guard or to the pilot
Simple door opennings.
Keeping the smoke detection systems is one big thing and maintainig
them will be a tough job for IR. So third party should handle this and
certified by Railway protection Force on yearly basis and certificate
should be in place. If anything wrong goes, heavy fines would be
enforced on those organizations and officials will be prosecuted
without reconcilliation. Because anything dealing with public life is
non tolerable.
Hope somebody would listen to people voices and respond accordings.
" Rescue personnel used oxy-acytelane cutters to clear the bogie "
A child should be able to open the door or the windows from the inside. Every bus or a train carriage is not much different from a mouse trap. Once you are locked in, there is no way out.
Perhaps, oxy-acetylene cutters should be installed in every bogie as an emergency tool.
What a sad incident. My heart goes with the victims families. I used
to travel on this train Chennai to Warangal when I worked in Chennai.
This train is said to have all best facilities as it travels to Delhi.
Our Railways never learn from previous mistakes and they cost of
people's lives and increase the 'fare' burden on commuters.
It is high time that such accidents should be avoided. Safety should
be first concern. If not there should be heavy penalty on the Railways
Minster.
I wonder why these accidents are taken so lightly with just the meagre renumerations to the affected.Being in an oil industry for the past 4 years, i have undergone a lot of internal,external,,Multi Disciplinary safety audits etc.It does contribute a lot to the safety aspects of the industry.
These audits and some very good and economical ways (Fluorescent exit lines,FAS)as suggested in above comments must be inculcated in Railways.
For instance it will hardly take 10K to install a fire alarm annunciation system for one coach.(9 Sensors).
But ofcourse the ideas and the whole incident will be forgotten withina week....its sad...
World's fourth largest railway network (INDIAN RAILWAYS), we might be proud to say this - but it's really very sad to see such accidents happening frequently!! Atleast proper fire alarms (if installed and worked well) could have saved these people and many more who lost their lives like this.
Very unfortunate!! sad to hear the loss of life. The Government has to take immedaite action to improve the safety standards of railway to avoid such drastic accidents in furture.
It is unfortunate the fire killed 30 passangers in TN express near Nellore.The safety of trains should be given priority.The railway minister who wanted to introduce safety measures providing in the budget by increasing nominal fare was booted out by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.She is squarely responsible for the mishap.Such politicians should know the damage she has caused to the indian public instead of gloating over her act.Railway minister should resign immediately without any delay to own up the tragedy.
Tragedy in India is, in no single train accident, no RAILWAY minister or official claim responsiblity or accountability. Its not a natural accident and for sure it must be a complete negligence of the railway officials, otherwise this would not have been happened. I watched on TV, police carrying dead bodies with theier bear hands. Where is fund gone to buy simple hand gloves and streches etc? Every DM office has DR fund and equipment. where is it gone? We are of nation, we(politicial leaders or IAS officers includign Indian RAILWAYS) never learn a lesson and its poor die always for thier blunders. Exgratia is another corruption. Thanks, Kumar.
I am pained by this constant train tragedies in India. Is there anyone who thinks the safety is going improve in Indian trains? People forget this in few days. The politicians are buy in accumulating wealth, covering corruption and trying to stay in power. If there is no revolutionary movement, things are not going to change in near future!
In India cost of a human life is 5 lakhs. So cheap !
Railway should seriously consider of changing the decade old style of
bogies, even Gandhi wouldn’t find it difficult in our railway coaches
as nothing much have changed in these years. The top level official
are nuts and they are not ready to change anything even after all
these frequent disasters
They should use new technologies available and confirm the security
and comfort of passengers, at least they can copy the design from some
foreign coach if they are able to design properly
one more accident . lot of condolence messages from our leaders
starting from president to PM with long faces. immediate cash
compensation announcement. what is next. prepare another condolence
message now itself and keep it ready. this will save our leaders
valuable time. please do not do hold any one accountable for this. this
is our practice. mr mukul roy get ready for your flight to kolkata to
meet didi long live india. you should not be away from kolkata for such
a long time. this will anger didi.
Today, my friend travelled from Cochin to Chennai in Train. He was caught smoking in the train by a Railway Police. The Railway Police took Rs.100 bribe from him and let him free. If the Railways and Railway police work this way, these kind of accidents in train can never be avoided :(
Extremely sad event and yet politicians like Mamta torpedo steps to bring much needed finance to Railways for upgrading safety.
Will there be accountability and exemplary action if negligence in safety is the cause? Or is Railways and other governmental organizations have a license to kill?
If a Railway was owned by a private sector company there would have been arrests of directors by now. Why not similar action against Railway Board members?
RIP all the passengers who died in this incident.
Get well Soon for all who got injuried !!
IRCTC was the only thing which was working fine in India and now this has got a loop hole into it!!
Now the Govt will send out a tender to change the circuit linings and this will end up into a Scam !!
We indians are really held up between greedy and hopeless Leaders!!
I Felt very sad. We have to change some rules and regulations. This
incident was repeated in South central railway premises. Most of
politicians care less about these incidents. The railways has announced
an enhanced ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh to the kin of each passenger who
died. My sincere advice to the railways and Executive council of India
take care and concentrate for like this incidents in future.
Fires alarms or Fire extinguishers are not going to help. Alarms can go randomly, and will create panic, and possibly more deaths. To be able to use fire extinguishers needs special training, and someone willing to do it (at the time of the incident). Untrained people will only put more lives in danger trying to use fire extinguishers. For these large-scale fires, ordinary fire extinguishers can do nothing. Moreover, these fire-extingushers have to be periodically checked and replaced: I highly doubt whether we can have a system for this.
What is required is to have good circuit breakers and periodic maintainance/testing of the circuit breakers. Second, is to carry out inspections, and prohibit passengers from carrying inflammable materials onboard. Third, as someone pointed out, prevent vendors using stoves inside the compartments. Fourth, and most expensive, would be to redesign the compartments to be fire resistant, and to have adequate escape paths.
There's one more to it. Many people smoke in the toilets which also is
a danger. My father is a retired railway employee and he knew of many
instances were many smokers who 'accidently' started a fire in the
toilets. Or the case where Tea vendors cook near the toilets.
Also fire spreads immediately due to wind and high speed which gives
very little time for passengers to respond. Having water sprinklers is
a very good alternative along with bigger size glass windows for
emergency.
I am writing this with heavy heart, after reading continuous mishap events occurring these days. Like children falling prey of unclosed manholes, and not properly checked school bus and now unattended fire in train coach.
May the departed souls rest in peace, while at the same time, pleading for officials and governments to pay attention for peoples' safety.
If Railways cannot be improved (as claimed by ex-railway ministers and
also by current minister blaming on funding), give it away to private
operators to run / manage it. It is such a marketable service in
demand and only the Indian Govt. can screw it up like this ! Railways
ministry is more interested in partisan politics and how to rob it of
its income and how to play to the tunes of Mamta didi or any other
coalition partner... it is never about how to improve passenger safety
and convenience.... and run it efficiently. Disgusting. It is very
reflecting of the UPA Govt's admin of the country.
Country is also burning this way and there are casualties due to
callous management. However it is not as apparent as this railway
accident...Meanwhile the cabinet, the PMO et al are only interested to
discuss about how to enrich the already rich domestic and foreign
investors. Loot the country, give doles and worsen the deficit (and FX
rate) on one hand, & to improve FX invite FDI on other!!
Tbis is not the first time railway is playing with the lives of
innocent people. The railway ministry should rise to occasion do the
needful for safety and security of the passengers. The previous
railway budget had many such recommendations. Unfortunately due to the
worst coalition politics every thing became closed chapter. Didi
should be very happy about it. May the innocent departed souls rest in
heaven and wish speedy recovery for the injured ones.
Time and again such tragedies speak volumes of official apathy in
introducing state of the art fire and smoke detectors to reduce loss
of human lives in such unfortunate incidents.It has become customary
practice for the government to order commission of inquiries and offer
monetary compensation to the families of those dead and to the injured
and never bother to make public what such inquiry commissions said
and whether the government has accepted the recommendations and
propose to implement them or not.It is a shame that we don't care for
safety aspects of the travelling public rendering them vulnerable.
An avoidable trgedy!The railway ministers have been in the parctice of boasting pointing out the profit they make out of it.The profits is purely bacause of the increase in the number of poeple use this transport not from the quality of service offered.No initiatives of redesigning the coaches and other safety measures have been through so there is no wonder such tragedies keep repeating .Why don't we follow foreigh countries in this regard.
"SAFE TRAVEL" I think this is a big issue right now in India, trains..
buses.. nothing seems to be safe.
All these could be avoided if only proper measures have been taken,,
1. Periodic Safety Assessment.
2. Fire Alarms & Smoke detectors.
3. Fire Extinguishers.
4. Educating about "Travel Safety" through media.
5. Strict rules & regulations regarding Combustible Substances.
6. Last but not the least NO CORRUPTION.
And I don't think People's lives are worth lakhs, they were someone's
loved ones.
None should pay the price for the Ignorance & Mistakes of someone
else.. :(:(:(
Very sad ! My heart goes to those who have lost their kins ! When are we going to improve in Safety Standards ? I have travelled in trains in Europe . Beautifully maintained & people too with good attitude generally .In India , we find bogies with open switch boards and hanging wires . When will the govt concentrate on accident free life to people instead about talking GDP & % GROWTH ? We are very backward in many fields especially in Safety Standards and cleanliness !
Why are anti-inflammable materials not being used in the coaches? This suggestion has been in the know for long now -- how many more avoidable accidents is the Government going to permit? The fire starts and within no time it engulfs the entire coach. What a shame that no lessons are learned from repeated mishaps of the same kind. The ministers of the coalition govt are least bothered as they have flights or chartered aircrafts for their conveyance.
The Motto "Safety, Security and punctuality” of Indian Railways are in force? If so, whether they are frequently being monitored and checked and accordingly acted by the Railway authorities?
I am disgusted to lodge this message. We as a nation shall stand in
utter shame. Every year, Children fell in to Borewells and Open
Manholes, Buses fall in to water either through reckless driving or
due to hopeless bridge condition, a couple of bus and train accidents
and to the list now, we must add Death Due to Fire etc.,
Most of the politicians have taken the attitude of "Incidents Just
Happen" & "We are Help Less".
Ministers still remain in cabinet passing a remark stating they are
not working only for the Middle Class.
Every incident is avoidable, in the first place.
Lack of safety measures / knowledge and improper governance has taken
far more lives than the riots and terror attacks.
Humble citizens in the hands of Heartless Leader, Administrators and
Politicians.
SHAME ...SHAME.....INDIA
Dear Indian Railways,
Every bogie including engine cabin, Sleeper, AC -
1st, 2nd, 3rd Tier, General bogies (un-reserved) should have fire
detection system and alarm should blow immediately so that people will
get alert and immediately train should be stopped. This helps people
to evacuate from the place instead of jumping from moving train. This
will save lot of people. I would also just that each bogie should have
fire extinguishers they should be installed in all compartments so
that the fire could be arrested at the earliest.
Accountability should be at the TOP Sack Railway Minister
It is high time smoke detectors were installed in all of the
compartments. Hopefully it can be connected to an emergency stop system
or at the least it would wake the passengers up and prevent them from
succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning. It is also time the windows can
open completely along with the grills which would mean more fire exits.
It should be possible to implement the following safety measures in all coaches,without waiting for an enquiry commission that will take a few years to produce a report that will never be implementd:
1. Put a couple of smoke alarms in each coach. The cost is only a few dollars and here all private homes have them.
2. Put a few fire extingushers in each coach. To avoid theft they should be in cupboards with glass panes that can be broken, if the extingushers are required.
3.Remove the grills from the windows. In an emergency it is difficult to exit the coaches in a hurry. So the casualities in any accident go up exponentially.
Of course being India, nothing will be done. When the next accident happens, a few crocodile tears will be shed, the Railways will throw some money at the vitims, and the cycle will go on.
Very shocking and horrifying news!!!!! My heart-felt condolence to families of all departed souls:-( Only one request to all government departments and authorities - ATLEAST WAKE UP NOW AND STAY ALERT; We cannot anymore loss the precious lives of our Indian brothers and sisters... Let the departed souls rest in peace:-( No condolence can bring back their lives and no compensaation will equate the loss suffered by their families.... Let this incident be the final tragedy in our country...
Indian Railways should learn from China and Korea who have come a long way in ensuring safty and hygene in their Railways.No maintenance work is done and coaches dirty and stinking.A high powered commitee should be formed to study the ills of railways and Reform is introduced as in the case of the economy.
Are we travelling in Death Train or in Messenger of Death?
Its high time for Indian Railways to take steps some mandatory steps
to ensure the safety of the passsengers who are travelling.
1. Re-design the coaches - Every coach should have fire extingusher
installed.
2. Alarm system - Smoke detectors (working smoke detectors) to detect
in case of fire. Alarm system should be checked regularly before train
the leaves yard.
3. Sprinker system to extingush fire should be installed in each and
every coach.
Five things that need to be done. One, only use fire retardant material for furnishings
in carriages. Two, provide fire extinguishers in the coaches. Three, railway personel
should be trained to handle emergencies and enforce rules. Four, do not overload
load carriages. Five, take the bars off the windows!!!
A Shocking and a pathetic incident. Really sorry for the people who are burnt inside the train who don't have space to escape. The Central govt. should hereafter seriously look into each of the trains that are running throughout the country. The government transports are said to be the safest, but in the recent times these buses and trains lacks the safety. Really Irony! In all the IT companies and in all good developed companies they have the smoke detectors and fire alarms, but why don't we have that basic thing in the trains/buses which is very important for our life. Our government always reacts only when there is an eye-opener in everything. Only if any serious thing happens in the country, then only they will set up a team and make sure this doesn't happen next time. Why to wait for such happenings? We can safe a life instead of losing one! Will INDIA never get up? We are only growing in poverty and bribery...We don't know where these are leading us through ...
We are the ones who made lot of noises when our minister wants to hike
price to improve the operations of railways. The safety improvement can
come with a little cost but are we really willing to pay?? or we just
let people to die like this.
Death toll still rising in numbers. On one side they are investing hundreads of crores for new modes of transport..other hand..lives are being taken by improper maintenence. It is high time the Government invests more on Safety measures on all modes of transport and make sure they adhere the rules strictly.
It confounds me why Bogies get burnt so fast. Just a few days ago one mad man burnt two AC coaches in Rajastan. Railways must change the materials thru which coaches are made.A through research needs to done on this issue since far too many incidents are occuring. The loss of 32 precious lives is not at all condolable. Its time for Railways to act. Safety has to be a paramount consideration.
When can we expect even a month free from accidents of Indian Railways.
We need safety first...
Railway is responsible for this and why no safety measures developed ??
Increase the ticket prices upto a small extent but please provide safety for all concerns like accidents, fire, thefts etc..
There goes an accident and railway ministry announces compensation to the kins of died persons. This way our ministries are very rich and have a big heart but they are forgetting that they are playing with lives of thousands of people. Railways don't have basic minimal accident preventive measures installed on board, the reason being they don't have sufficient funds but when it comes to compensation they can provide crores of rupees to show their sympathy. why? Just to get your hands clean?
i recall that while i was in kota,rajasthan i was sleeping on on a bed
with polyurethane or whatever mattresses these days are available and
being winters i covered myself with synthetic korean quilt. lighted a mosquito spiral coil near the bed which accidently dropped on the
quilt. the quilt and the mattresses immediately started burning with
fire and thick smoke. The visibility was 0%. Since i was at home i
managed the situation,
Railways and other public transport systems should avoid use of such inflammable materials in the carriage
Railways have to improve the Security issues... otherwise the accident will take place occasionally... so please Wake up as soon as possible.
JAI HIND!!!!
Very sad and unfortunate.
It is the height of negligence exerted by our govts and by society at large.
We rise and make hue & cry when incidents such as this happens.
Once , boiled issue cools down, we forget it and become busy with our routines. Politicians again feel lazy as we ourselves are lazy to fight for the issue. I don't understand what to do?
Is there any body , any system which can address our complaints in this country?
It is very sad situation , however fire accidents in trains are to be avoided by installing fire alarms and so that every passenger will be attentive.Safety and security of passengers to be provided by the Railways and measures to be taken so that ,fire accidents dont repeat again
It is high time Indian Railways need to think about redesigning the
coaches. The aisle of the coach is very narrow and it is difficult for
two persons to walk through simultaneously from opposite sides, let
alone the case of stampede in emergency situations like what happened
in Nellore. Bring water tanks overhead of all coaches with sensors
which can be a remedy for this types of accidents. And numerous other
steps can be pursued and make rail journey safe. Authorities need to
work on this
Things like this will countinue to happen as long as the systems are not robust, we need a more organised sector and a complete revitalising of the major things, as long as there are lopp holes for a crrupt person to make money these things are bound to happen, this is the law of the nature!!!
Someone would say it is just a mistake that happened, but things like these are so unfortunate to let them happen twice!!!
No matter whosoever calls India is shining wake up before it is too late.. support people like Anna Hazare and help him with the good cause of creating a corruption free society!
We loose crores in scams.. all these can be invested in technology for safer travel.
The railways are together with the municipalities in not ensuring the most basic civic services. I was traveling in the Udyan Express and to my horror I found that the water tap in a toilet of the A1 coach was dry! I immediately complained to the coach attendant and the TTE but to no avail. If such is the casual attitude, like the SC order on safaries in the core area of the forests, the railway death dealers must be dismissed immediately.
In European trains, all coaches are fitted with fire alarms. In addition
all windows are made of thick double glass(AC Coaches) and hammers are
installed at regular intervals so that passengers can use in an
emergency. Some windows are also styled like exits which can be opened
by passengers when in an emergency.
In this instance if the passengers had been alerted by an alarm well in
time and if they had a escape route to jump out of the train , then
casualties could have been minimized.
It is very regretful that loss of human lives in such a tragic manner is never ending in our Country and no proper safery mechanism is in place. The TV channels are more interested about the news of power grid failure in Northern Indian States than to cover the loss of innocent citizens. The investigation has to be conducted throroughly to ensure that how a short circuit in a non-ac compartment can cause this extensive damage. It is shame that safety is not given any importance in our country.
Apart from compensation to victims, govt should immediately appoint a committee of experts to study the cause and suggest solutions to prevent such calamities in future. And implement those recommendations. That would be honouring the departed...
Very sad to see this. Automatic sensors to shed water can be installed to aviod such freak accidents. Let those soul rest in peace.
Fire alarm as well as anti fire should be kept in all compartments.So
that people can use that in emergency.
Atleast now..after all such incidents happening...there should be an increase in fares to enhance the quality of boogies and engines, track and safety systems
this not first time it happened .... even though we are not taking care of any thing .. i am requesting u plz avoid such kind of accidents... plz think if your family in that place (railway minester).. do the things properly ..
Heart rending accident. Railway has to do something for the safe
journey of the passenger. Enhancing ex-gratia is not sufficient.
People's lives are more important.
Tragedy as such make my belief strong that India is failed State!!
Why Media or anybody , try to compare with China, its insulting China.
India itself is unique third world country, it cannot be compared with
any other countries
30 people killed. Ex- gratia of 5 lakhs to kin of the dead!!! If at all
the railways had spent these money for the maintenance of the trains
then all these deaths have been avoided. Indian Railways is very
profitable just because of the sheer volume of people in India and not
because of their so called wonderful management. RIP the victims.
Our train compartments are metal death traps. There is no emergency lighting (how about some fluorescent strips running on the floor/ceiling?) and people have no idea how to open the emergency windows. This is the main reason why the death toll is always so high. Also in general we have no training on what to do in case of an emergency other than cause a stampede. The state of the railways is so pathetic - so much of our money goes in the wrong hands.
Such a tragedy, and we talk about making our systems world class!. I bet it won't happen in the next 1000 years. We don't have a quest for excellence.
The petty/populist policy of TMC and Mamata Bannerjee has to be stopped. IR needs overhaul of its signalling system and safety instruments. By not doing so, TMC is party to this carnage that took place today.
Fire alarms have to be putup in all compartments. Railways have to relook into coach design and materials to make it less inflamable.
I was shocked to watch this news today morning. Unfortunate passengers
about to reach their destination in few hours had no escape from the
jaws of death. Many such fire accidents are happening due to short
circuit. But in this modern age are we still lag behind to prevent such
accident, I wonder. The poor maintenance of trains are one of the major
reasons for such incidents which is preventable.
i was a caterer to railways and i know that unauthorised tea, coffee
sellers early morning used to light stoves near bath rooms of coaches to
make coffee or tea. this practice is prevalent in SCR with the
connivance of RPF, RAILWAY POLICE ,TTES. THIS MAY BE THE CAUSE OF THE
ACCIDENT.all materials used in furnishing coaches such as
rexin,laminated ply wood aid the spread of fire. narrow windows unlike
in western countries prevent people coming out of windows with bars as
obsturction
The coalition politics over the years have destroyed the Railways. Remove the Railway minster Mukul Roy and give the ministry to someone who is capable and serious about his job as railway minister.
It shows once again mostly poorly administered Railways. Why safety mechanism did not work? Who is accountable for this accident? Most incapable minister after independence who has only time to follow the footsteps of Didi. He should kicked out of Minsitry. Also the responsible officials should fired without any compensation for making such human loss.
It is high time the Railways install smoke detectors. The alarm should
go off in the respective compartment soon smoke is detected. The
driver should get the alarm with the compartment that has the issue
and train should stop automatically. The alarm would wake up the
passengers and as the train will be forced to stop, the passengers get
a chance to jump-off the train. While this may not guarantee saving
all, at least maximum lives could be saved with this. Also ample fire
extinguishers should be installed in all compartments so that the fire
could be arrested at the earliest. Departed souls RIP. May God give
the strength and support needed for the victim's families to come over
this grief.
What's that, there's no information about how the accident took place.There must be some stuff which would be expected from the readers...very bad
Along with hygienic toilets lets implement fire safety measures also in
our railway coaches. It should be taken up at least for the new coaches.
We have all come across such fire accidents in the past, but have you ever notices a fire extinguisher in the coach ?
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