Lok Sabha Question No. 28 (STARRED), answered on 2018-12-12
Subject: Rail Accidents
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA, BHARAT SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 28

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.12.2018

## RAIL ACCIDENTS

- †*28.  SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA: SHRI BHARAT SINGH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether a number of train derailments and accidents occurred in various  parts  of  the  country  including  Amritsar  during  the  last three years and the current year;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  reasons  therefor  along  with  the number of persons killed/injured  in these  accidents and  the  total amount  of  compensation  paid  to  the  families  of  the  victims, accident-wise;
- (c) whether any inquiry has been conducted/ordered into these accidents, if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (d) the number of Railway officials held guilty for lapses on their part and the action taken against them, accident-wise; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government  to check  frequent rail accidents in future and ensure the safety and security of the rail passengers?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COAL

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 28 BY SHRI MANSUKHBHAI  DHANJIBHAI VASAVA AND SHRI BHARAT SINGH TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 12.12.2018 REGARDING RAIL ACCIDENTS

- (a) & (b) Details of type-wise number of consequential train accidents that took place during the last three years and in the current year upto 30 th  November, 2018 and number of persons killed/injured therein are as under:-

| Type of Accidents        | 2015-16             | 2015-16   | 2015-16   | 2016-17             | 2016-17   | 2016-17   | 2017-18             | 2017-18   | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (Upto 30/11/2018)   | 2018-19 (Upto 30/11/2018)   | 2018-19 (Upto 30/11/2018)   |
|--------------------------|---------------------|-----------|-----------|---------------------|-----------|-----------|---------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|
|                          | Number of accidents | Killed    | Injured   | Number of accidents | Killed    | Injured   | Number of accidents | Killed    | Injured   | Number of accidents         | Killed                      | Injured                     |
| Collision                | 3                   | 1         | 12        | 5                   | 5         | 28        | 3                   | 0         | 0         | 0                           | 0                           | 0                           |
| Derailments              | 65                  | 36        | 99        | 78                  | 193       | 322       | 54                  | 28        | 174       | 35                          | 7                           | 39                          |
| Manned Level Crossings   | 6                   | 12        | 10        | 0                   | 0         | 0         | 3                   | 3         | 9         | 3                           | 4                           | 13                          |
| Unmanned Level crossings | 29                  | 58        | 41        | 20                  | 40        | 19        | 10                  | 26        | 12        | 3                           | 16                          | 7                           |
| Fire                     | 0                   | 0         | 0         | 1                   | 0         | 0         | 3                   | 0         | 2         | 2                           | 1                           | 1                           |
| Misc.                    | 4                   | 15        | 25        | 0                   | 0         | 0         | 0                   | 0         | 0         | 1                           | 1                           | 2                           |
| Total                    | 107                 | 122       | 187       | 104                 | 238       | 369       | 73                  | 57        | 197       | 44                          | 29                          | 62                          |

Causes-wise  details  of  consequential  train  accidents  that  took  place during the last three years and in the current year upto 30 th  November, 2018 are as under:-

| Broad Causes                        |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |   2018-19 (upto 30/11/18) |
|-------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------------------------|
| Failure of Railway staff            |        55 |        63 |        43 |                        28 |
| Failure of other than Railway staff |        38 |        23 |        18 |                        07 |
| Failure of equipment                |        02 |        03 |        03 |                        00 |
| Sabotage                            |        01 |        02 |        02 |                        00 |
| Combination of factors              |        01 |        03 |        02 |                        00 |
| Incidental                          |        09 |        07 |        05 |                        05 |
| Could not established/ Non Held     |        01 |        00 |        00 |                        00 |
| Under Investigation                 |        00 |        03 |        00 |                        04 |
| Grand Total                         |       107 |       104 |        73 |                        44 |

The amount of compensation paid during the last three years and the current year (upto Nov 2018) is as follows:-

| Year                      |   Compensation paid ( ₹ in lakhs ) |
|---------------------------|------------------------------------|
| 2015-2016                 |                             262.96 |
| 2016-2017                 |                             303.17 |
| 2017-2018                 |                             188.51 |
| 2018-2019 (upto Nov 2018) |                             164.68 |

Note: The compensation paid in a year need not necessarily relate to the accidents/casualties  in  that  year  alone.  The  amount  paid  in  a  year depends  upon  the  number  of  cases  finalized  by  the  Railway  Claims Tribunals (RCTs) or other Courts of Law in a particular year irrespective of the year(s) in which the accident they pertain to, have occurred.

In  the  Amritsar  incident  on  19.10.2018,  as  per  Chief  Commissioner  of Railway Safety's preliminary report, the incident has been classified as Trespassing over the Railway property.  Ex-gratia of ₹ 2 lakhs for kin of deceased  and ₹ 50,000/-  for  injured  has  been  announced  from  Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) in this case.

(c)  &  (d)  Accidents on Indian Railways are inquired into either by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation or by the Departmental Inquiry Committees of Railways. During the last three years i.e. from 2015-16 to 2017-18 and the current year 2018-19 (upto  30 th   November,  2018),  33  serious  train  accidents  have  been inquired  into  by  the  Commission  of  Railway  Safety  (CRS)  under  the Ministry  of  Civil  Aviation.  The  Commission  of  Railway  Safety  has submitted  final  inquiry  reports  in  25  cases  and  preliminary  inquiry reports in 05 cases of above train accidents.

On the basis of the findings of these inquiry reports, disciplinary action  as  per  the  prescribed  norms  is  taken  against  the  staff  found guilty and penalties are imposed on the staff found responsible by the concerned departments of the Indian Railways.

During the last 3 years viz. 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and current year upto October, 2018, 344 major penalties and 301 minor penalties were imposed on erring officials.

Various  corrective  and  improvement  measures  have  been  taken by  the  Ministry  of  Railways  as  per  the  findings  of  the  various  inquiry reports so as to improve the safety aspect over the Indian Railways.

(e)  Safety  is  accorded  the  highest  priority  by  Indian  Railways  and  all possible steps are undertaken on a continual basis to prevent accidents and to enhance safety.

To  ensure  safety  of  rail  passengers,  the  following  measures  have been taken:-

1. Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) -  As announced by Hon'ble Minister  of  Finance  in  his  Budget  Speech  for  2017-18,  a  fund namely 'Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK)' had been introduced with a corpus of ₹ 1  lakh  crore  over  a  period  of  five years  from  2017-18  onwards  for  critical  safety  related  works.

A  provision  of ₹ 20,000  crore  has  been  made  in  Budget Estimate  2018-19  out  of  'RRSK',  as  was  done  in  2017-18.    The Funds under RRSK are being utilized to finance works under Plan heads Traffic Facilities, Rolling Stock, Level Crossing, ROB/RUB, Track  Renewal,  Bridge  Works,  Signal  and  Telecommunication Works, other Electrical Works, TRD Works, Machinery and Plant, Workshop and Training/HRD.

2. Expenditure  on  safety  has  increased  consistently  from ₹ 45516 Cr.  in  2015-16 to ₹ 53457 Cr. in 2016-17, ₹ 60885 Cr. in 2017-18 and further ₹ 73065 Cr. (Budget Estimate)   in 2018-19.
3. Topmost  priority is given to Rail/Track renewal by  making available  funds  and  material  for  rail  renewal.    Further  adequate traffic  blocks  for  carrying  out  work  are  also  being  provided.    In 2017-18, a record rail renewal work of 4405 km was done and in the current year a target of 5509 km of rail renewal has been set, which is about 25% more than the last year.
4. Switch  over  to  the  manufacture  of  Linke  Hofmann  Busch  (LHB) coaches from 2018-19 onwards and stopping the manufacture of ICF coaches.  The LHB coaches having superior design and better safety features like anti-climbing features etc.  It has also been planned  to  retrofit  around  32000  existing  ICF  coaches  having  a life of up to 15 years and having Screw Coupling with CBC in the next few years.
5. Indian  Railways  has  also  decided  to  install  advanced  signaling system like European Train Control System (ETCS) Level -2 which will improve safety.
6. Modern  technology  that  lower  reliance  on  human  element  and improve  efficiency  of  the  system  like  Self  Propelled  Ultrasonic Rail  Testing  (SPURT  Car),  TPWS  (Train  Protection  and  Warning System) and TCAS (Train Collision Avoidance System) as means of Automatic Train Protection to prevent accidents are being tried out.
7. Elimination of unmanned level crossings on Broad Gauge through closure,  merger,  provision  of  subways  and  manning,  etc.    Upto November,  2018  all  the  unmanned  level  crossings  (UMLC)  have been eliminated on Broad Gauge except a very small number i.e. 28 UMLCs.
8. New works have been included in the category of Safety works like Platform extension and raising, foot overbridge, pathways and boundary walls etc. to improve passenger safety.
9. Delegation of powers and easing of procedures, improving safety awareness amongst railway employees, and better training facilities like imparting simulator based training for improving the driving skills and the reaction time of Loco Pilots.

In view of the above safety measures taken by the Railways, the numbers of Consequential train accidents have declined from 107 in 2015-16 to 73 in 2017-18 and further in the current financial year i.e. 2018-19 (upto November, 2018) consequential train accidents have decreased from 51 to 44 in comparison to corresponding period of the previous year.

Security  has  been  identified  as  one  of  the  priority  areas  by  the Railways for  strengthening  and  upgradation.  Measures  initiated  for security  of  passengers  include  escorting  of  2500  trains  (on  an average  daily),  in  addition  to  escorting  of  2200  trains  by  GRP, operationalisation  and  upgradation  of  Security  Help  Line  number 182,  access  control  at  important  stations,  erection  of  morchas, guarding  of  platforms,  yards  and  circulating  areas,  surveillance through  Close  Circuit  Television  (CCTV)  Cameras  at  important railway stations etc.

Prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of law and order in railway station premises as well as in running trains are the statutory responsibility of State Governments, which they discharge through the Government Railway Police (GRP). Railways, through the Railway Protection Force (RPF), are supplementing efforts of respective States to strengthen security across Indian Railways.

For regular monitoring and review of security arrangements for the Railways, State Level Security Committee for Railways (SLSCR) have been constituted for all State/Union Territories (UTs) under the

Chairmanship of respective Director General of Police/ Commissioner of States/ Union Territories. *****