Lok Sabha Question No. 2935 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-03
Subject: Rail Accidents
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Pradyut Bordoloi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2935 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.08.2022

## RAIL ACCIDENTS

## 2935. SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Ministry has undertaken the implementation of the recommendations of the High Level Safety Review Committee headed by Dr. Anil Kakodkar and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of accidents caused due to derailment, level-crossing accidents, collisions and fires in the Indian Railways from 2014 till now;
- (c) whether the Ministry  has  begun  switching  over  its  entire  fleet  to  Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, if so, the time by which it is likely to be done and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Ministry plans to create an independent new  safety architecture  for  the  Railways  on  the  lines  of  the  UK  Rail  Safety  and Standards Board and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the  steps  taken/likely  to  be  taken  by  the  Ministry  to  prevent  railway accidents?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

*****

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  2935  BY  SHRI  PRADYUT  BORDOLOI  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN LOK SABHA ON 03.08.2022 REGARDING RAIL ACCIDENTS.

- (a) Yes,  Sir.  The  High  Level  Safety  Review  Committee  had  made  106 recommendations  covering  various  aspects  of  Indian  Railways.  All  the recommendations have been examined by the Board. 75 recommendations have  been  fully  accepted  and  20  recommendations  have  been  partially accepted. 11 recommendations were found not acceptable to the Ministry of Railways. Out of 95 accepted/partially  accepted  recommendations,  85 recommendations have been implemented and rest 10 recommendations are under implementation.
- (b) Details  of  consequential  train  accidents  over  the  Indian  Railways during the period 2014-15 to 2021-22 and in the current year i.e. 2022-23 (up to  26.07.2022),  caused  due  to  derailments,  level  crossings  (manned  level crossings and unmanned level crossings), collisions, fire and miscellaneous accidents, are given as under:-

| Year      |   Collisions |   Derailments | Level Crossing Accidents Fire in Train   |
|-----------|--------------|---------------|------------------------------------------|
| 5         |           63 |            56 | 2014-15 6                                |
| 2015-16 3 |           65 |            35 | 0                                        |
| 5         |           78 |            20 | 2016-17 1                                |
| 3         |           54 |            13 | 2017-18 3                                |
| 0         |           46 |             6 | 2018-19 6                                |
| 5         |           40 |             1 | 2019-20 8                                |
| 1         |           17 |             1 | 2020-21 3                                |
| 2         |           27 |             1 | 2021-22 4                                |
| 2022-23 1 |           06 |             0 | 2                                        |

….2

- (c) Yes,  Sir.  It  has  been  decided  to  phase  out  ICF  coaches  with  LHB coaches.  To  this  effect,  the  service  life  of  ICF  coaches  has  been  reduced from 25 years to 20 years and Mid Life Rehabilitation (MLR) has been stopped for ICF coaches since 01 April 2020. Indian Railways is now manufacturing only LHB coaches since April 2018. More than 30,000 Nos. of LHB coaches have already been manufactured till June 2022.
- (d) No, Sir.
- (e) The  following  steps  have  been  taken  by  Indian  Railways  to  prevent train accidents and to improve safety:-
1. Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) has been introduced in 2017-18 for replacement/renewal/upgradation of critical safety assets, with a corpus of `1 lakh crore for five years, having an annual outlay of `20,000 crore. It has been further extended for a period of five years starting from the financial year 2022-23.
2. Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems with centralized operation of points and signals have been provided at 6261 stations upto 31.05.2022 to eliminate accident due to human failure.
3. Block Proving Axle Counter (BPAC) to ensure complete arrival of train without manual intervention before granting line clear to the next train has been provided on 6036 block sections, up to 31.05.2022.
4. Interlocking of Level Crossing (LC) Gates has been provided at 10869 level Crossing Gates, up to 31.05.2022, for enhancing safety at LC gates.
5. Indian Railways have developed Indigenous Automatic Train Protection System 'KAVACH' to prevent collisions.
6. All  locomotives  are  equipped  with  Vigilance  Control  Devices  (VCD)  to ensure alertness of Loco Pilots.

7. Retro-reflective sigma boards are being provided on the mast which is located two OHE masts prior to the signals in electrified territories to warn the crew about signal ahead when visibility is low due to foggy weather.
8. A GPS based Fog Safety Device (FSD) is being provided to loco pilots in fog affected areas, which enables loco pilots to know the exact distance of the approaching landmarks like signals, level crossing gates etc.
9. Modern  track structure, consisting of 60kg, 90 Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, Prestressed Concrete Sleeper (PSC) Normal/Wide base sleepers  with  elastic  fastening,  fanshaped  layout  turnout  on  PSC  sleepers, Steel Channel/H-beam Sleepers on girder bridges is used, while carrying out primary track renewals.
10. Long rail panels of 260M/130M length are being manufactured at steel plants to minimize the number of Alumino Thermit joints in the track.
11. Ultrasonic Flaw Detection (USFD) testing of rails is done to detect flaws and ensure timely removal of defective rails.
12. Mechanization  of  track  maintenance  is  being  carried  out  to  reduce human errors.
13. Preventive  maintenance  of  railway  assets  (Coaches  &  Wagons)  is undertaken  to  ensure  safe  train  operations  and  to  keep  a  check  on  rail accidents across the country.
14. Replacement  of  conventional  ICF  design  coaches  with  LHB  design coaches is being undertaken.
15. All unmanned level crossings (UMLCs) on Broad Gauge (BG) route have been eliminated by January 2019.
16. Safety  of  Railway  Bridges  is  ensured  through  regular  inspection  of Bridges. The requirement of repair/rehabilitation of Bridges is taken up based upon the conditions assessed during these inspections.

17. Inspections at regular intervals are carried out to monitor and educate staff for observance of safe practices.
18. Regular counseling and training of staff is being undertaken.

*****