Lok Sabha Question No. 663 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-20
Subject: Incidents of derailments
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Nama Nageswara Rao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 663 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.07.2022

## INCIDENTS OF DERAILMENTS

663.   SHRI NAMA NAGESWARA RAO:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of derailments that have occurred in Railways during the last three years including the current year, zone-wise;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to avoid such incidents;
- (c) the total expenditure incurred by the Railways on the maintenance of tracks for the last three years including the current year;
- (d) the details of the Railway land, illegally occupied by unscrupulous elements;
- (e) the total cost of the Railway land occupied illegally; and
- (f) the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  take  back  the possession of such encroached land?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (f) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 663 BY SHRI NAMA NAGESWARA RAO TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 20.07.2022 REGARDING INCIDENTS OF DERAILMENTS

(a):  Zone-wise  details  of  number  of  consequential  train  derailments during the last three years i.e. 2019-20 to 2021-22 and the current year (from 1 st  April, 2022 to 11 th  July, 2022) are given below:-

| Zonal Railway      |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |   2022-23 (up to 11 th July, 2022) |
|--------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|------------------------------------|
| Central            |         6 |         4 |         3 |                                  1 |
| Eastern            |         2 |         0 |         1 |                                  0 |
| East Central       |         4 |         1 |         2 |                                  0 |
| East Coast         |         0 |         1 |         4 |                                  0 |
| Konkan Railway     |         0 |         1 |         1 |                                  0 |
| Kolkata Metro      |         0 |         0 |         0 |                                  0 |
| North Central      |         4 |         2 |         2 |                                  0 |
| North Eastern      |         0 |         0 |         0 |                                  0 |
| Northeast Frontier |         2 |         1 |         4 |                                  0 |
| North Western      |         3 |         1 |         2 |                                  0 |
| Northern Railway   |         6 |         1 |         3 |                                  1 |
| South Central      |         5 |         1 |         0 |                                  0 |
| South Eastern      |         0 |         1 |         1 |                                  0 |

| South East Central   |   0 |   0 |   1 |   1 |
|----------------------|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| South Western        |   2 |   1 |   3 |   0 |
| Southern Railway     |   1 |   1 |   0 |   0 |
| West Central         |   2 |   1 |   0 |   0 |
| Western Railway      |   3 |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| TOTAL                |  40 |  17 |  27 |   3 |

(b):  The  following  steps  have  been  taken  by  Indian  Railways  to  avoid incidents of derailments and to improve safety:-

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 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. Track  Circuiting  of  stations  to  enhance  safety  for  verification  of track occupancy by electrical means instead of human element has been provided at 6325 stations as on 31.05.2022.
4. Block  Proving  Axle  Counter  (BPAC)  to  ensure  complete  arrival  of train  without  manual intervention before granting line clear to the next  train  have  been  provided  on  6036  block  sections  up  to 31.05.2022.
5. 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.
6. Indian Railways have developed Indigenous Automatic Train Protection System 'KAVACH' to prevent collisions.
7. All locomotives are equipped with Vigilance Control Devices (VCD) to ensure alertness of Loco Pilots.
8. Provision of 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Long rail panels of 260M/130M length are being manufactured at the steel  plant  to  minimize  number  of  Alumino  Thermit  joints  in  the track.
12. Patrolling of railway  tracks  is done  to  look  out  for weld/rail fractures.
13. Ultrasonic Flaw Detection (USFD) testing of rails is done to detect flaws and timely removal defective rails.
14. Mechanization of track maintenance is being carried out to reduce human errors.
15. Adoption of web based online monitoring system of track assets viz. Track database and decision support system and to decide rationalize maintenance requirement and optimize inputs.
16. Preventive maintenance of the railway assets (Coaches  & Wagons) is undertaken to ensure safe train operations and to keep a check on Rail Accidents across the country.
17. Replacement of conventional ICF design coaches with LHB design coaches.
18. All  unmanned level crossings (UMLCs) on Broad Gauge (BG) route have been eliminated by January 2019.
19. 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.
20. Inspections  at  regular  intervals  are  carried  out  to  monitor  and educate staff for observance of safe practices.
21. Regular counseling and training of staff.
22. (c):  The  total  expenditure  incurred  by  the  Indian  Railways  on  the maintenance of tracks during the last three years i.e. 2019-20 to 2021-22 and the current year (from 1 st  April, 2022 to 30 th  June, 2022) is as under:-

| Year                            |   Total expenditure incurred on Maintenance of tracks ( ` in crores) |
|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2019-20                         |                                                             11369.6  |
| 2020-21                         |                                                             11604.8  |
| 2021-22 (Provisional)           |                                                             12321.4  |
| 2022-23 (Upto 30 th June, 2022) |                                                              3336.46 |

(d) to (f): As  on  31.03.2022,  out  of  about  4.86  lakh  hectare  land available  with  Indian  Railways,  approximately  782.81  hectare  land (0.16%)  is  under  encroachment.  The  Railways  do  not  maintain  market price  of  land  as  it  is  governed  by  various  factors  and  keeps  on fluctuating. Railways carry out regular surveys for identifying encroachments and take action for their removal. If the encroachments are of temporary nature (soft encroachments) in the shape of jhuggies, jhopris  and  squatters,  the  same  are  removed  in  consultation  with  and the  assistance  of  Railway  Protection  Force  and  local  civil  authorities. For  old  encroachments,  where  party  is  not  amenable  to  persuasion, action is taken under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 (PPE Act, 1971), as amended from time to time. Actual  eviction  of  unauthorized  occupants  is  carried  out  with  the assistance of the State Government  and  police. The  removal of encroachments is a continuous process. During 2021-22, approximately 27.49 hectares of Railway land has been retrieved.

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