New Delhi: The Indian Railways has seen a sequence of train accidents which have highlighted its emphasis on passenger safety. Train collisions and derailments often plague the railways in India. According to official data, train accidents in India declined to 48 in FY23 from 473 in 2000-01. Data from Indian Railways shows that train accidents were down to 678 or 68 per year during 2014-2024 from 1,711 or 171 per year during 2004-14.
How Indian Railways reduced train accidents
The Indian Railways set up the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh in 2017-18 to monitor and upgrade train safety assets. The Rs 1 lakh crore received a 5-year extension in FY23 with a Rs 45,000 crore Budget outlay.
Railways Electronic Interlocking System
Indian Railways on June 30, 2024, installed the electronic interlocking system at 6,589 stations. This system centralised controls of points and signals to reduce the possibility of accidents attributable to human error. The Indian Railways also introduced interlocking at over 11,000 level railway crossing gates. Surveillance of train tracks by electronic means, also called complete track circuiting was rolled out at 6,609 stations, according to official data.
KAVACH system
Indian Railways has installed the homegrown Kavach automatic train protection system to ensure safety during adverse conditions through automatic braking. As of date, the Kavach system has been installed on 144 trains covering a 1,465 km route.
Advanced Communication systems
The Indian Railways installed axle counters for the automatic block section clearance system on 6,079 sections to ensure train arrival tracking. Mobile train radio communication backed by LTE technology was cleared for the coverage of 34,804 km by the Indian Railways. Vande Bharat train sets are equipped with emergency talk-back systems. Other safety systems installed on tracking systems include:
Vigilance control devices
GPS-enabled fog safety devices
Maintenance and ultrasonic testing
The Indian Railways has installed ultrasonic flaw detection testing at regular intervals to weed out defective rails. The Railways also conducts audits of coaches and wagons to ensure train safety.
Safety at crossings and bridges
The Indian Railways eliminated unmanned crossings in 2018 and decided to introduce regular inspections and repairs of railway bridges. All railway coaches are equipped with fire notices as well as warnings against carrying flammable materials. Fire detection and suppression systems are also in focus, with the Indian Railways beginning to retrofit coaches with these features for enhanced safety.
Indian Railways safety measures: From Kavach to electronic interlocking system, here are measures taken by the Railway ministry to ensure safer train travel. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
