Friday 7 August 2015

Can Rail Accidents be avoided???






           After yesterday’s nerve- wracking incident that occurred in the remote area of Madhya Pradesh ,when two express trains derailed within seconds while crossing each other during flash floods that undermined tracks. This tragic incident has killed 30 people and left many injured.
           
            Friends , I was forced to write about this when I had a debate with my husband over this and then the question struck to my mind.

            Can Rail Accidents be avoided???
            
            I will be taking you to a series of facts and figures and will also request you to share your thoughts in the same.

           So tell me normally after such accidents what type of reactions we see among our politicians , it is a jocular and also a serious truth and trust me you will feel the same in a minute:

Reaction 1: government comes up with its traditional strategy to be more specific  "Compensation strategy" In pure hindi language (piditon ko Muavza )

Reaction 2: Blame Game starts Opposition demands resignation of railway minister which is a common culture / trend after every rail accident.

Reaction 3: Then comes a list of commitments and promises

"Indian government has pledged to invest blabla amount to modernize this that and has introduced etc etc plans."

and last but the most famous reaction is 

Reaction 4: Politicians suddenly become visible on social sites with their weepy words.

As below:
Following
@narendramodi

The two trains accidents in Madhya Pradesh are deeply distressing . Deeply pained over the loss of lives . Condolences to families of deceased.
 Very funny I must say…..Isn’t it…
I know I am a bit harsh but won't hesitate saying that its shameless to say but Our Indian Railway which has the fourth largest railway network in world has become handicap and we people have become habitual of bearing the brunt of the cuts.
                According to Indian Railway statistical Publication,
                25,006 people died and 3,882 were injured in a total of 28,360 railway accidents across the country in 2014 and this is an incremental figure .
                In 2013 we invested INR 39090 cr  for modernization of rail system
                    2014 – INR 43443 cr
                    2015 estimated as INR 1.27 Lac cr.
                 Also our government has spent INR 1288 cr as compensation to victims .

                Now the funniest part is almost 85% of trains hardly have a fire safety Alarm and even if they have you know what is the condition.

                   
               Many a times accidents occur on bridges during rainy season. The reason is no regular inspection of bridges and tracks. More over some of the bridges are very old and unable to carry fast speed trains or even a normal train . Resultant yesterday’s accident.
            
               In contrary to this Japan Railway Company is renowned for its safe and modern railways.

               According to the link below , they claim “ Zero “ fatality and injury since 1964.

http://english.jr-central.co.jp/about/safety.html

               But actually there are few of train accidents in japan like the one in 2005, 1990 and only one or two more  so I should say when compared to Indian figures its 

NEGLIGIBLE 

               Some Interesting Facts :


                Japan has developed a very sophisticated high-technology detection system called 
TERRA-S (Tokaido Shinkansen Earthquake Rapid Alarm System), in short , Earthquake Detectors  to safely bring all train operations to a halt in case tremors detected.

              And we hardly have fire safety alarms on rail track  so modernization of what type of rail system the government speaks of. 


              Now still will you say that giving an excuse of a natural calamity is a valid justification. I know we can’t avoid such accidents completely but atleast we can reduce the intensity of such incidents.

                
              In US , China, Uzbekistan , Japan ….Positive Train Control (PTC) is installed . It is a technology designed to slow or stop trains automatically if engineers ignore warning signals it is just like an automatic braking system .
                
              Its true that we don’t have such high speed rail systems , also this needs a huge investment , maintenance and shortage in manpower combination of all these is making our rail system cancerous .
               
              At last I would only request to the system especially to our government
                                 "Sir stop showing us a Bullet Train Dream, 
                             we only want to feel a safe rail journey dream….
                                        Please don’t become culprit and 
                                  don't make us victim of this mass killing."

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