Accidents happening in Indian Railways indicate that Railways does not take lessons from previous mistakes. That's why the history of accidents in railways repeats itself again and again.
After every big accident in the railways, an inquiry by the commissioner of railway safety (CRS) is ordered by the railway ministry.
The aim is to take lessons from train accidents and take action so that such accidents can be avoided in future.
If the investigation of CRS is not possible, then many times the investigation of accidents or any serious incident in the railway is also done by the committee of high officials of the railway.
CRS are officers of Railways only and they are given posting in Ministry of Civil Aviation on deputation. It is said that this is done to protect the investigation of CRS from bias.
CRS visits the spot in its investigation and they also talk to local people. In the process of investigation, eyewitnesses, railway employees and media coverage are also included as per the need.
But the website of CRS shows that no action has been taken by the Ministry of Railways on several years old cases, or the information about such action has not been shared with the general public or passengers.
2.5 lakh posts are lying vacant in the railways
Shiv Gopal Mishra, General Secretary of All India Railway Men's Federation, said action is taken on the small employees after most of the accidents. He says action on small employees will change nothing. Mishra said 2.5 lakh posts are lying vacant in the railways. Among them two lakh posts are related to safety.
He said taking action against small railway employees has not changed anything till date. One lakh crore rupees are needed to strengthen signaling and safety in railways, whereas in the last two budgets only 200 crore rupees have been given.
In some of the major rail accidents in India in recent years the action by the railways was only an eyewash.
Only a junior engineer was held responsible for Khatauli train accident
On 19 August 2017, a major train accident took place in Khatauli in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Here 14 coaches of Utkal Express train going from Puri to Haridwar were derailed. Repair work was going on on the tracks in Khatauli but during that time the signal was given for the train to move. About 23 people were killed in this accident and many passengers were injured.
Immediately after this accident, some senior railway officials were also sent on forced leave. 14 people, including railway trackman, blacksmith and junior engineer repairing the track, were removed immediately.
According to Shiv Gopal Mishra,, later in the investigation of the Commissioner Railway Safety, it was found that only the junior engineer of the railway was responsible for the accident, so the rest were reinstated in the job.
No major accident was taken in other big mishaps
In another accident on 22 January 2017, eight coaches of the Hirakhand Express train derailed in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. About 40 people died in this accident. Initially this accident was described as a conspiracy and the NIA was involved in its investigation.
According to reports, after three years of investigation, CRS found that the accident happened due to fracture in rail .track For this, the civil engineering department of East Coast Railway was told to be directly responsible.
On 20 March 2015, the Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express derailed. About 35 people were killed in this accident. This accident happened in Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh. In the investigation of CRS, a signal maintainer of the railway was found responsible for this accident and he was fired from the job.
Sriprakash, former member (traffic), Railway Board, says, “In railways, action is always taken after investigation. The reason behind action on the employees working at the lower level is that they operate the train at the ground level and they are responsible. There is also a lot of pressure to run the trains on time, in this they also make mistakes."
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