Lok Sabha Question No. 2672 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-04
Subject: Train Accidents
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Raghu Ramakrishna Raju Kanumuru

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2672 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.12.2019

## TRAIN ACCIDENTS

## 2672.  SHRI KANUMURU RAGHU RAMA KRISHANA RAJU:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Ministry would  provide the details of the train accidents that occurred in the last one year in the country and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (b) the types of safety measures that are being taken by the Railways at present; and
- (c) the  measures  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  increase  rail safety  in  the  country  and  avoid  future  train  accidents  along  with  the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO  2672  BY  SHRI  KANUMURU  RAGHU  RAMA KRISHANA  RAJU  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  04.12.2019 REGARDING TRAIN ACCIDENTS

(a):   Details of type-wise number of consequential train accidents that took place during the year 2018-19 and the current year (from 1 st  April, 2019 to 31 st  October, 2019) are as under:-

| Type of Accidents        |   2018-19 |   2019-20 (Upto 31 st October, 2019) |
|--------------------------|-----------|--------------------------------------|
| Collision                |         0 |                                    3 |
| Derailments              |        46 |                                   29 |
| Manned Level Crossings   |         3 |                                    1 |
| Unmanned Level crossings |         3 |                                    0 |
| Fire                     |         6 |                                    7 |
| Misc.                    |         1 |                                    1 |
| Total                    |        59 |                                   41 |

(b) & (c): Safety is accorded the highest priority by Indian Railways and all  possible  steps  are  undertaken  on  a  continuous  basis  to  prevent accidents and to enhance safety of passengers. Following steps/measures have been taken to prevent accidents:-

1. Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) has been introduced in 201718  for  replacement/renewal/upgradation  of  critical  safety  assets, with a corpus of ₹ 1 lakh crore for five years, having annual outlay of ₹ 20,000 crore.
2. Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems with centralized operation  of  points  and  signals  are  progressively  provided  to eliminate accident due to human  failure and to replace old
3. mechanical systems. These systems have been provided at 5,965 stations up to 30.09.2019.
3. Track  Circuiting  of  stations  to  enhance  safety  for  verification  of track occupancy by electrical means instead of human element is completed at about 6,117 stations up to 30.09.2019.
4. Axle  Counter  for  Automatic  clearance  of  Block  Section  to  ensure complete arrival of train without manual intervention before granting line clear to the next train and to reduce human element have been provided on 5,515 block sections up to 30.09.2019.
5. Train Protection and Warning System: Train Protection and Warning System  (TPWS)  based  on  European  Technology  ETCS  Level-1 Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System to avoid train accident/collision  on  account  of  human  error  of  Signal  Passing  at Danger  (SPAD)  or  over  speeding,  has  been  provided  at  selected sections.
6. Auxiliary  Warning  System  (AWS):  An  ATP  called  Auxiliary  Warning System (AWS) is presently    functional on 413 RKMs in the Mumbai suburban section of Central Railway (289 Route KMs) and Western Railway (124 Route KMs).
7. Vigilance Control Device (VCD): All the diesel and electric locomotives  on  Indian  Railways  have  now  been  provided  with Vigilance Control Devices.
8. A Global Positioning System (GPS) based Fog Pass Device is being provided  as  required  to  loco  pilots  in  fog  affected  areas  which enables loco pilots to know the exact distance of the approaching signals, LC Gate and other critical landmarks.
9. Simulator based training of loco pilots:  Simulator based training is being  imparted  to  loco  pilots  to  improve  their  driving  skills  and reaction time.
11. Track Renewal:  During 2018-19, 4181 kms. track renewal had been carried  out.  For  the  current  year  i.e.  2019-20,  2643  km    track
10. renewal has been carried out upto October, 2019.
11. In  order  to  improve  safety,  modern  track  structure  consisting  of Prestressed  Concrete  Sleeper  (PSC),  60kg,  90  or  higher  Ultimate Tensile  Strength  (UTS)  rails,  fanshaped  layout  turnout  on  PSC sleepers,  Steel  Channel  Sleepers  on  girder  bridges  is  used  while carrying out primary track renewals.
12. Provision of Thick Web Switches (TWS) is planned for all important routes of Indian Railways. To expedite provision of TWS, procurement  of  Thick  Web  Switches  has  been  decentralized  to Zonal Railways.
13. Long rail panels of 260 M/130M length are manufactured at the steel plant to minimize number of Alumino Thermit joints in the track.
14. Cold  weather  patrolling  of  the  railway  tracks  is  done  during  the coldest part of the night in cold months of the year to look out for weld/rail fractures for ensuring safety.
15. Ultrasonic  Flaw  Detection  (USFD)  testing  of  rails  to  detect  flaws and  timely  removal  of  defective  rails.  USFD  Vehicular  testing system  has  been  introduced  and  implemented  successfully  on Northern Railway.
16. Global  Positioning  System(GPS)  trackers  are  being  progressively provided  to  keyman  &  patrolmen  to  monitor  their  movement  &  to report any unsafe condition noticed by them instantaneously.
17. Mechanization of Track Maintenance is being progressively carried out to reduce human errors.
18. Safety drives and inspections at regular intervals are carried out to monitor and educate staff for observance of safe practices.
19. Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) Type Coaches: LHB coaches are of a superior design that reduces  the chances  of  derailment and reduces  the  possibility  of  grievous  injury  or  death  in  case  of accidents.  Indian  Railways  has  completely  switched  over  to  the manufacture of LHB coaches from 2018-19 onwards.
20. Prevention  of  accidents  by  providing  Online  Monitoring  of  Rolling Stock(OMRS)  and  Wheel  Impact  Load  Detector(WILD).  Total  07 Online  Monitoring  of  Rolling  Stocks(OMRS)  equipment  have  been installed on Indian Railway network between 2017-2019 and 02 are under  installation.    17  Wheel  Impact  Load  Detectors  (WILD)  have been installed on Indian Railways, between 2006-2018.
21. Elimination  of  Unmanned  Level  Crossing  Gates:    3,479  Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs) were eliminated during the year 2018-19. All  UMLCs  on  Broad  Gauge  have  already  been  eliminated  through closure/merger/provision of Subway for safety measures.
22. Interlocking of Level Crossing Gates with signals to avoid accidents has been done at 11,474 Level Crossing Gates up to 30.09.2019.
23. Provision  of  Fire  Extinguishers:  Dry  chemical  powder  type  fire extinguishers are being provided in all mainline coaches.  These are portable fire extinguishers and are easy to use by on board staff or passengers in case of emergency.
24. Use of improved materials for electrical fittings and fixtures such as Miniature Circuit Breakers(MCBs), light fittings, terminal boards and connectors.
25. Publicity Campaigns: Intensive publicity campaigns to prevent the travelling  public  from  carrying  inflammable  goods  are  regularly undertaken.

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