Lok Sabha Question No. 2296 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-08-03
Subject: Train Accidents
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: ASHWINI KUMAR, RAYAPATI SAMBASIVA RAO, YOGI ADITYANATH, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH, R.P. MARUTHARAJAA, JAYSHREEBEN  PATEL, KRISTAPPA NIMMALA, B.N. CHANDRAPPA, ABHISHEK BANERJEE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2296 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.08.2015

## TRAIN ACCIDENTS

## 2296.  SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR:

SHRI RAYAPATI SAMBASIVA RAO:

SHRI YOGI ADITYA NATH:

SHRI D.K. SURESH:

SHRI R.P. MARUTHARAJAA:

SHRIMATI JAYSHREEBEN PATEL:

SHRI NIMMALA KIRSTAPPA:

SHRI B.N. CHANDRAPPA:

SHRI ABHISHEK BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  major  and  minor  train  accidents  and  derailment including goods trains during the last three years, year-wise and Zonewise along with the reasons thereof;
- (b) the details of casualties and loss suffered by the Railways in terms of  revenue  and  property  along  with  the  compensation  paid  to  the victims;
- (c) whether the Railways have conducted any inquiry into these train accidents and if so, the details of the outcome of the report;
- (d)    whether  the  shortage  of  operational  staff  is  also  one  of  the reasons for such accidents and if so, the details thereof along with the other remedial measures taken/ being taken by the Railways to check the recurrence of the accidents; and

(e)  whether  the  Anti-Collision  Devices  (ACD)  and  Train  Actuated Warning Devices (TAWD) have been operationalized in all the zones to prevent such accidents and if so, the details thereof and the success rate of the Railways in ensuring safety and security of the trains and averting accidents in the last one year?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2296  BY  SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR, SHRI RAYAPATI  SAMBASIVA  RAO,  SHRI  YOGI  ADITYA  NATH,  SHRI  D.K. SURESH,    SHRI  R.P.  MARUTHARAJAA,    SHRIMATI  JAYSHREEBEN PATEL,  SHRI  NIMMALA  KIRSTAPPA,    SHRI  B.N.  CHANDRAPPA,  AND SHRI  ABHISHEK  BANERJEE  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON 03.08.2015 REGARDING TRAIN ACCIDENTS.

(a):  Zone-wise, year-wise and type-wise number of consequential train accidents  (excluding  incidents  at  unmanned  level  crossings  caused due to negligence of road vehicle users) during the last three years i.e. 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and the current year (from 1 st  April to 15 th July, 2015) is given below:

| Railway      | Year                           | Type of Accidents   | Type of Accidents   | Type of Accidents   | Type of Accidents      | Type of Accidents   |       |
|--------------|--------------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|------------------------|---------------------|-------|
| Railway      | Year                           | Collision           | Derailment          | Fire in Train       | Manned Level crossings | Misc.               | Total |
| Central      | 2012-13                        | -                   | 5                   | 2                   | -                      | -                   | 7     |
| Central      | 2013-14                        | -                   | 6                   | 1                   | -                      | -                   | 7     |
| Central      | 2014-15                        | -                   | 9                   | -                   | 1                      | -                   | 10    |
| Central      | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -                   | 2                   | -                   | -                      | -                   | 2     |
| Eastern      | 2012-13                        | -                   | 4                   | -                   | -                      | -                   | 4     |
| Eastern      | 2013-14                        | 1                   | 4                   | -                   | -                      | -                   | 5     |
| Eastern      | 2014-15                        | -                   | 3                   | 1                   | -                      | -                   | 4     |
| Eastern      | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -                   | -                   | -                   | -                      | -                   | -     |
| East Central | 2012-13                        | -                   | 6                   | -                   | 1                      | -                   | 7     |
| East Central | 2013-14                        | 1                   | 5                   | 1                   | -                      | -                   | 7     |
| East Central | 2014-15                        | 3                   | 6                   | -                   | 2                      | 3                   | 14    |
| East Central | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -                   | 3                   | -                   | -                      | -                   | 3     |

| East Coast         | 2012-13                        | -   | 8   | -   | -   | -   | 8   |
|--------------------|--------------------------------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| East Coast         | 2013-14                        | 1   | 3   | -   | -   | -   | 4   |
| East Coast         | 2014-15                        | -   | 5   | -   | 1   | -   | 6   |
| East Coast         | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   |
| North Central      | 2012-13                        | -   | 2   | 4   | -   | -   | 6   |
| North Central      | 2013-14                        | -   | -   | 1   | 1   | -   | 2   |
| North Central      | 2014-15                        | -   | 3   | 3   | -   | -   | 6   |
| North Central      | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| North Eastern      | 2012-13                        | -   | 1   | -   | 1   | -   | 2   |
| North Eastern      | 2013-14                        | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| North Eastern      | 2014-15                        | 1   | 7   | -   | -   | -   | 8   |
| North Eastern      | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| Northeast Frontier | 2012-13                        | 1   | 2   | -   | -   | -   | 3   |
| Northeast Frontier | 2013-14                        | -   | 2   | 1   | -   | -   | 3   |
| Northeast Frontier | 2014-15                        | 1   | 2   | 1   | -   | -   | 4   |
| Northeast Frontier | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| North Western      | 2012-13                        | 1   | -   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| North Western      | 2013-14                        | -   | 2   | -   | 2   | -   | 4   |
| North Western      | 2014-15                        | -   | 3   | -   | -   | -   | 3   |
| North Western      | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| Northern           | 2012-13                        | -   | 5   | -   | 2   | -   | 7   |
| Northern           | 2013-14                        | -   | 8   | 1   | 1   | -   | 10  |
| Northern           | 2014-15                        | -   | 8   | 1   | 2   | -   | 11  |
| Northern           | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | 1   | -   | 2   |
| South Central      | 2012-13                        | -   | 3   | 1   | -   | -   | 4   |
| South Central      | 2013-14                        | -   | 3   | -   | -   | 1   | 4   |
| South Central      | 2014-15                        | -   | 1   | -   | -   | 1   | 2   |
| South Central      | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   |

| South Eastern     | 2012-13                        | -   | 1   | -   | 1   | -   | 2   |
|-------------------|--------------------------------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| South Eastern     | 2013-14                        | -   | 5   | -   | -   | 1   | 6   |
| South Eastern     | 2014-15                        | -   | 4   | -   | -   | -   | 4   |
| South Eastern     | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | -   | -   | 1   | -   | 1   |
| Southeast Central | 2012-13                        | 1   | 2   | -   | -   | -   | 3   |
| Southeast Central | 2013-14                        | 1   | 5   | -   | -   | -   | 6   |
| Southeast Central | 2014-15                        | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   |
| Southeast Central | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| South Western     | 2012-13                        | 2   | 4   | -   | -   | -   | 6   |
| South Western     | 2013-14                        | -   | 1   | 1   | -   | 1   | 3   |
| South Western     | 2014-15                        | -   | 6   | -   | -   | -   | 6   |
| South Western     | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| Southern          | 2012-13                        | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| Southern          | 2013-14                        | -   | 3   | -   | -   | -   | 3   |
| Southern          | 2014-15                        | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   |
| Southern          | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 2   | -   | -   | 1   | 3   |
| West Central      | 2012-13                        | -   | 2   | 1   | -   | -   | 3   |
| West Central      | 2013-14                        | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| West Central      | 2014-15                        | -   | 2   | -   | -   | -   | 2   |
| West Central      | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   |
| Western           | 2012-13                        | 1   | 2   | 1   | -   | -   | 4   |
| Western           | 2013-14                        | -   | 3   | 1   | -   | -   | 4   |
| Western           | 2014-15                        | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| Western           | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | -   | -   | -   | 1   | 1   |
| Konkan            | 2012-13                        | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| Konkan            | 2013-14                        | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |
| Konkan            | 2014-15                        | -   | 3   | -   | -   | 1   | 4   |
| Konkan            | 2015-16 (Upto 15th July, 2015) | -   | 1   | -   | -   | -   | 1   |

Based on the inquiry reports including prima-facie, cause analysis of  the  consequential  train  accidents  (excluding  incidents  at  unmanned level  crossings  caused  due  to  negligence  of  road  vehicle  users)  which took place during the last three years i.e. 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15  and the current year (upto 15 th  July, 2015), is given below:

| Cause                               |   2012- 13 |   2013- 14 |   2014- 15 |   2015-16 (upto 15 th July, 2015) |   Total |
|-------------------------------------|------------|------------|------------|-----------------------------------|---------|
| Failure of Railway Staff            |         46 |         50 |         61 |                                10 |     167 |
| Failure of other than Railway staff |          6 |         10 |          8 |                                 3 |      27 |
| Failure of equipment                |          6 |          3 |          3 |                                 1 |      13 |
| Sabotage                            |          3 |          3 |          3 |                                 1 |      10 |
| Combination of                      |          0 |          0 |          0 |                                 0 |       0 |
| Incidental                          |          7 |          4 |          8 |                                 4 |      23 |
| Could not be established            |          1 |          0 |          2 |                                 0 |       3 |
| Under Investigation                 |          0 |          0 |          1 |                                 0 |       1 |
| Total                               |         69 |         70 |         86 |                                19 |     244 |

(b):    The  number  of  casualties,  loss  suffered  by  Indian  Railways  in terms of revenue and railway property and compensation paid to the next  of  kin  of  the  victims  and  the  injured  persons  due  to  train accidents during the last three years i.e. 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 are as under:

| Year    |   Number of Accidents |   Casualties | Loss suffered in terms of property by Indian Railways ( ` in crore)   | Compensation paid by Indian Railways (in ` )   |
|---------|-----------------------|--------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| 2012-13 |                    69 |           81 | 54.24 (Approx)                                                        | 3,19,63,013/-                                  |
| 2013-14 |                    71 |           55 | 27.98 (Approx)                                                        | 1,49,21,759/-                                  |
| 2014-15 |                    85 |          161 | 40.99 (Approx)                                                        | 1,27,48,008/-                                  |
| Total   |                   225 |          297 | 123.21 (Approx)                                                       | 5,96,32,780/-                                  |

Note:  Compensation paid in a year does not necessarily relate to the accidents in that year.  The amount of compensation depends upon the number of cases finalized by Railway Claims Tribunal in  a  particular  year  irrespective  of  the  year(s)  in  which  the accidents have occurred.

(c):  All consequential train accidents on Indian Railways are inquired into either by Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) under the Ministry of  Civil  Aviation  or  Departmental  Inquiry  Committee  of  the  Railway. During  the  last  three  years  i.e.  2012-13,  2013-14,  2014-15  and  the current year upto   15 th  July, 2015, altogether 244 consequential train accidents  (excluding  incidents  at  unmanned  level  crossings  caused due to negligence of road vehicle users) occurred  on Indian Railways. Based  on  the  inquiry  reports  (including  prima-facie),  167  accidents were caused due to Failure of Railway Staff, 27 due to Failure of other than  Railway  staff,  13  due  to  failure  of  equipments,  10  due  to Sabotage,  23  due  to  Incidental  factors,  cause  of  3  train  accidents could not be established and the rest 1 train accident is inquired into by  Commissioner of  Railway  Safety  (CRS)  under  the  Ministry  of  Civil Aviation.

(d):  Arising and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process and at any point, there would be some  vacancies  in an organization. Vacancies  occur  due  to  normal  retirements,  voluntary  retirements, deaths,  promotions  and  creation  of  posts  etc.  There  is  sometimes  a lag  between  occurrence  of  vacancies  and  processing  the  same  for filling up which involves notification of vacancies, holding examinations,  finalization  of  select  panels  and  issue  of  appointment letters.  The  Railways  are  committed  to  filling  up  vacant  posts, promptly as per the laid  down procedure. The efficiency parameters for  train  operations  have  shown  continuous  improvement  over  the years and there is no compromise on safety on this account. As far as other remedial measures to prevent accidents are concerned, 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.    These  include  timely  replacement  of  over-aged assets, adoption of suitable technologies for upgradation and maintenance of track, rolling stock, signalling and interlocking systems,  safety  drives,  greater  emphasis  on  training  of  officials  and inspections  at  regular  intervals  to  monitor  and  educate  staff  for observance  of  safe  practices.  Safety  devices/systems  being  used  to prevent  accidents  include  complete  track  circuiting,  provision  of Block  Proving  Axle  Counters  (BPAC),  Colour  Light,  LED  Signals, Vigilance Control Device (VCD), usage of 60kg rails and Pre-stressed Concrete Sleepers, long rail panels, better welding technology, progressive use of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, Centre Buffer Couplers in Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design coaches, etc.

(e):      Anti-Collision  Device  (ACD)  developed  by  Konkan  Railway Corporation  Limited  (KRCL)  has  been  provided  as  a  pilot  project  on 1736 Route kilometers on Katihar-Kumedpur-New Jalpaiguri-GuwahatiLumding-Tinsukia-Dibrugarh-Ledo  and  Kumedpur-Malda  sections  of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). Technical and operational problems  have  been  experienced  in  the  functioning  of  ACD  on  NFR. Major problem is of unwarranted brakings which has adverse impact on  train  running.  Research  &  Design  and  Engineering  efforts  in resolving these technical and operational problems have been undertaken since its deployment on NFR.  KRCL developed improved version  1.1.2  of  ACD  which  was  validated  by  Electronic  Test  & Development Centre (ETDC), Chennai and the same has been implemented on all Divisions of NFR.  However, unwarranted brakings still continue to exist.

Also,  a  large  number  of  complex  operational  and  technical problems  were  experienced  during  the  trials  on  Southern  Railway which could not be fully resolved by KRCL due to design limitations of ACD and further development of ACD version 2.0 has been put on hold by  KRCL  and  therefore,  further  proliferation  of  ACD  on  other  Zonal Railways  is  not  contemplated.  In  view  of  this,  a  pilot  project  for indigenous  development  of  Train  Collision  Avoidance  System  (TCAS) has  been  taken  up  by  Research  Design  and  Standards  Organization (RDSO).

Trials  of  Train  Actuated  Warning  Device  (TAWD)  which  gives audio-visual warning to road users about an approaching train at Level Crossing  Gate  were  undertaken.  However,  the  system  was  found unworkable/unsuitable due to various reasons such as law and order, theft,  inaccessibility  of  site,  poor  power  supply  and  public  vandalism which  resulted  in  non-availability  of  system.      Further  to  this,  a Memorandum  of  Understanding  (MoU)  has  been  signed  between Research  Design  and  Standards  Organization (RDSO)  and  Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur  for development of suitable and viable  vandal  proof  Advance  Warning  System  to  warn  road  users against approaching trains at unmanned level crossing gates.

Every  year,  new  passenger  trains  are  being  introduced  and additional  freight  trains  are  being  run  to  carry  incremental  traffic consistent with growing needs of the economy.  In spite of growing rail traffic,  the  train  accidents  have  shown  a  decreasing  trend  which indicates  improved  safety  performance  of  Indian  Railways  year  after year. Accidents Per Million Train Kilometres is an important index of safety used by most of the Railways in the world.  By adopting various safety  measures  on  Indian  Railways,  it  has  come  down  from  0.55 Accident  Per  Million  Train  Kilometers  during  2001-2002  to  0.14  in 2010-11 and further to 0.11 (Provisional) in 2014-15 despite quantum increase in the volume of traffic carried by Indian Railways over the years. As  far  as  security  on  Indian  Railways  is  concerned,  concerted efforts  made  by  Railway  Protection  Force  (RPF)  with  Government Railway Police (GRP) and other departments of Railways have resulted in improved security environment over Indian Railways.

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