The Indian Railways is taking a slew of measures to ensure safety in operations following the Balasore triple train tragedy which left 295 persons dead and over a thousand injured, Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Safety fund
Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) was introduced in 2017-18 for the replacement, renewal and upgradation of critical safety assets, with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore for five years. “From 2017-18 till 2021-22, a gross expenditure of Rs 1.08 lakh crore was incurred on RRSK works,” Vaishnaw said.
The measures include enforcing adherence to protocol for alteration works involving changes in the existing system. Vaishnaw said that a concept of Rolling Block has been introduced. Maintenance, repair, replacement is planned two weeks in advance on a rolling basis and executed accordingly.
A special drive has been launched to ensure that there is double locking in Relay Room and Goomties at Level Crossing gates. Also it is being ensured that there is data logging and generation of SMS alerts for opening and closing of doors of these relay rooms and goomties, Vaishnaw said. The system of disconnection and reconnection for Signal and Telecom equipment is being followed.
Unidentified remains
Vaishnaw also said that as on July 18, while 254 deceased have been identified, 41 deceased are yet to be identified. The Hindu had earlier reported that the DNA identification process for the dead bodies was taking too long.
Over the last five years, from 2018-19 to 2022-23, the number of consequential train accidents was 219, with 71 deaths and 333 people sustaining injuries. In the Balasore train accident on June 2, 295 passengers died, and 176 of the thousand injured, sustained severe injuries. Of these, 201 accident cases have been investigated by the Departmental Inquiry Committee, and the Commission of Railway Safety has investigated 18 cases.
