Railways Has Its Priorities Skewed

There is no end to the Indian Railways’ periodic encounters with accidents, big and small. Within a year of the ghastly collision at Balasore on June 2 2023 leading to the death of nearly 300 passengers, a similar mishap has occurred again at Rangapani in North Bengal.

A goods train hit a passenger express train from behind resulting in 10 deaths. Many others are in critical condition.

The latest accident, as expected, has triggered the usual activities. The railways seem to have a well-rehearsed protocol for such events. There is the customary shedding of some tears of doubtful genuineness by the Minister-in-charge and his boss.

The routine announcement of compensation for the dead and injured has followed, and we have also been assured of a thorough investigation and punishment of the guilty, and or rectification of the defects that led to the mishap.

This has become a boring routine after every collision, and no one cares anymore. For a few hours, maybe a few days, the horrible pictures of mangled coaches, scattered dead bodies, and people lying on hospital beds will appear in newspapers and be flashed on TV screens.

A host of all-knowing experts will entertain us. Yes, we are delighted by such human misery, with their valuable comments and advice.

The results of the probe, and recommendations made, generally remain unknown to the people. The various actions of the railways before, and during the investigations do not inspire any confidence in their credibility.

In the case of the most recent accident too, the lack of seriousness became apparent when, even before the preliminary investigation began, a senior railway official told the media that the Pilot of the goods train was responsible for the accident. There was no discussion on why the automatic signals were not functioning on the stretch where the accident happened.

It seems that this statement gave the cue to the railway police about the direction in which they should proceed. According to reports published in prominent vernacular newspapers, and broadcast on TV channels, the Railway Police questioned a passenger of the ill-fated train, who was herself injured, and was under trauma. Based on her so-called statement, an FIR was lodged against the Pilot and Co-Pilot of the goods train.

Immediately after this, the passenger in question gave a statement to the media that she had not given any statement to the police accusing the Pilot or the Co-pilot of negligence, etc., leading to the accident. She clarified that it was not possible for her, sitting inside a compartment, to know what led to the accident.

It is unthinkable that a government department like the Railways can stoop so low as to implicate and accuse some of its junior officials like the diseased Loco Pilot, and the injured Co-Pilot by using such devious means. Along with the probe into the accident, this matter also needs a thorough investigation.

In reality, senior officers of the Railways and their political masters are morally responsible for such accidents, even if the immediate culpability is of someone else. The political leadership wants to run the railways for the maximum profit at the cheapest cost.

The senior Railway officers, in deference to their Masters’ wishes, focus their attention on cosmetics like the introduction of luxury trains of Vande Bharat and Tejas genres for the handful of passengers who can afford them.

In the process, they gloss over, if not neglect, the safety of the common passengers who travel by the old, ricketty “express” and passenger trains. Investments are either not made, or kept at the minimum, to maintain and improve the signalling system across the vast railway network.

Even routine maintenance is hampered by the lack of technical staff, as vacancies in those categories have not been filled. To cover this up, they have to hide the real cause of the accident at Rangapani, much like the one at Balasore a year ago. That is why they have to manufacture a complaint and register an FIR against some junior officials.

Once upon a time, the then Railway Minister announced that the railways had acquired an advanced technology, which would make colliding of trains a thing of the past. Crores of rupees were earmarked and budgeted to install that technology in all trains that carry passengers.

It is not known what happened to that promise, and the money budgeted for it. Whenever there is an accident, we learn that that protective system was not installed on those trains, or in those routes.

A country that aspires to be in the rank of developed ones in a few years from now, a country that wants to run bullet trains very soon, cannot even ensure that its abysmally slow passenger trains, whose average speed is some 50 km an hour, have a safe run.

The word ‘Express’ is used only to charge a few extra bucks from the passengers. It is a scary thought about what might happen if a Bullet train running at 300 km an hour has a collision!

People in the know of the functioning of the railways, and those who watch developments related to it have pointed out that over the last decade, all attention has been shifted to cutting operating costs; increasing earnings from passenger fares – if not directly then by way of dynamic fare, etc.; developing and running a parallel system of trains like Tejas and Vande Bharat that look swankier, run slightly faster, and cater to the creamy layer of the passengers at a much higher cost than the ordinary trains used by the vast majority of people; and make money by privatising the railways except for the technical aspects of running of the trains, and by selling off or commercialising the railways’ real estates.

‘Monetise the Assets’ is the new mantra for the railways. Everything in this country has two parallel systems. Alongside the economy, we have a parallel black economy.

In education and health, we have private and public sector systems running side by side – the former for the upper layers, and the latter for beneficiaries of the trickle-down theory. Why should and how can the railways be an exception?

In pursuance of this policy, the railways have drastically reduced recruitment to lower-level posts. It is estimated that nearly 250,000 posts have been kept vacant by the railways, and one-half of this number is in the technical and maintenance category.

The existing staff work longer hours to keep the railways moving. Naturally, under such a short-sighted vision, maintenance suffers, and accidents keep happening.

It was time the railways got serious about doing something to reduce the number of accidents and mitigate the sufferings of the passengers. It must return to the drawing board, and rectify the fundamental defects in its current policies.

It has to set its priorities right. Running a bullet train over a short distance and a dedicated corridor, spending enormous amounts of money, cannot earn us recognition as a technologically advanced country unless the overall railway system is improved and made as flawless as it could be.

Changing a few coaches, and running new luxury trains, while neglecting the basics, will only make Indian railways a glaring example of how not to run railways.

Sandip Mitra retired from the Indian Foreign Service. Views expressed are the writer’s own.