MEETING OF RAILWAYS' CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE OF MPs ON 'RAILWAY
SAFETY' HELD
The ‘final’ inquiry
report of the Rafiganj accident of the Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani
Express has now been received by the Railway Board. The inquiry
was conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) (Eastern
Circle), Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. The
preliminary report of the CRS was presented on 3rd
October, 2002. The CRS concluded that the accident falls under
the category of ‘sabotage’. The information about receiving final
report was disclosed by the Railway Minister Shri Nitish Kumar
at the meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Members of
Parliament for Ministry of Railways on the subject of ‘Railway
Safety’, held here today. The Minister said that he has directed
Railway Board to study the Report and take suitable steps for
the implementation of the recommendations concerning safety made
in the final report. The Minister pointed out that the Railways
has already initiated several steps to ensure safe travel on the
vulnerable sections on the basis of the recommendations made in
the preliminary report of CRS on Rafiganj accident.
The Minister said
that the steps taken include temporary speed restrictions imposed
on the vulnerable section of Eastern Railway and East Central
Railway during night, running of pilot engine ahead of Rajdhani
Express during nights and security patrolling by Railway Protection
Force and the Gangmen on the vulnerable sections. The Minister
emphasized that there cannot be any compromise with the safety
of railway passengers. The Railway Minister said that a special
meeting of General Managers was called in the Railway Board in
the wake of Rafiganj accident to review safety preparedness and
parameters. The full Board also visited each Zonal Railways and
held detailed deliberations on various aspects of accident prevention
and relief and rescue measures. He said that indigenously developed
project of Anti-Collision Device is presently on extended field
trials on Jullundar-Amritsar section and would soon be deployed
at other places. The Minister also clarified that the projects
and the work to be undertaken from the Special Railway Safety
Fund (SRSF) have been clearly identified and presented as a Green
Book to the Parliament. He assured the Members of the Consultative
Committee that the money of the SRSF will not and cannot be spent
on any other activity other than the safety related works for
which it has been set up. The Minister also said that steps are
also being taken to fill all vacancies in the vital Departments
and Railway Recruitment Boards have been fully geared to ensure
quality recruitment. The Minister pointed out that along with
the quality recruitment. special attention is also being paid
to proper training to railway personnel.
The Minister said
that there is a constant endeavour on the part of Railways to
sustain safety consciousness among its personnel. Shri Nitish
Kumar said that the Prime Minister has on 15th August
this year approved a National Rail Vikas Yojana comprising an
investment of Rs.15000 crores over the next five years to remove
all the capacity bottlenecks in the critical sections of the railway
network to ensure fast track growth. The projects under this Yojna
includes strengthening of Golden Quadrilateral, strengthening
rail connectivity to ports, construction of mega bridges, construction
of Udhampur-Baramullah line in Jammu and Kashmir as a national
project etc. The Minister said that the ‘Operation Cleanliness’
campaign announced by the Prime Minister is also being launched
all over the Railways and a Task Force for this purpose has been
constituted. He informed that Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi
area has been selected as the first model station for this campaign.
He said that under this scheme, the trains will not only be cleaned
at the starting/terminating stations but also at midway places
for which ‘Clean Train Stations’ are being developed. The Minister
also pointed out that the performance of the Railways has recently
been quite satisfactory. The freight loading targets at the end
of last month have surpassed the proportionate target. There are
also indications of improvement in the operating ratio. Referring
to the ‘Passenger Amenities Year’, the Minister informed the Committee
that the Railways have launched the first phase of computer based
unreserved ticketing system for Delhi area as amajor passenger
friendly measure targeted at common man. Efforts have also been
taken to streamline refund procedure to railway passenger.
The Ministers of
State for Railways, Shri Bandaru Dattatraya and Shri A.K. Moorthy
also addressed the Committee Members. Chairman, Railway Board,
Shri I.I.M.S Rana gave detailed presentation on railway safety.
The presentation mentioned about system of maintenance, inspection
and operations, training, safety measures, details of SRSF etc.
