Better manpower, maintenance in rails

Investigation into last week’s tragic accident in Odisha involving two passenger trains and a goods train – in which 288 people were killed and another 1,000-odd injured – is likely to draw attention away from the railways’ recent capacity expansion and towards its safety record. This misses the point that there is no trade-off between safety and scale. Massive injections of taxpayer money to modernise the railways have, in fact, been accompanied by improving safety metrics. GoI has extended allocation for a railway safety fund that is delivering impressive results. Anti-collision devices and improved signalling are being installed so that trains run faster. New tracks, signalling systems, locomotives and coaches are safer by design. Safety is also improved by decongesting the network. Faster rail movement requires significant advances in operational efficiency, including accident avoidance. For the most part, Indian Railways has managed to achieve the right balance between scale and safety. But its record is clearly not unblemished.

An audit of recent train derailments shows operational errors to be the biggest contributor, followed by lack of track renewal and mechanical failure. Manpower and maintenance are weak links in the chain. Resource allocation to these areas needs to be monitored more intensively. Also, the pace of incorporating anti-collision technology on less-congested segments must be speeded up. All of these are linked to the railways being able to generate their own surplus for upgrading tracks, signalling systems and rolling stock. Revenue-earning freight keeps subsidising passenger fares despite market pricing in higher classes. The railways have not been able to generate their share of the safety fund, which takes away from the budgetary intent.

The railways are vital to India‘s effort to improve its logistics as well as to its climate commitments. Yet, they have been losing market share to road and air transport. To be able to diversify their revenue streams, the railways need a faster network. Which means a safer network.