Behind the Bullet Trains: Staff Shortages and Outdated Infrastructure Plague Indian Railways
Underneath the shimmering of new trains lie the misplaced priorities of the Indian Railways.
Image Credits: Asia Times
A Large number of casualties and frequent train accidents tell a grieving tale of mismanagement and the soldiering on the job of the Indian Railways. Whether that be in case of major train collisions or job openings, the work theft is clearly visible.
On 17th June, 2024, a goods train collided with the stationary Kanchanjunga Express en route to Sealdah, in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district, resulting in the casualties of 10, including 7 passengers and 3 railway employees, and 50 survivors with injuries. This section of the railways comes under the Northeast Frontier Railways. This is the third major accident in the past three years, and none of the trains involved in the collision were equipped with the ‘anti-collision device’. This is the third major accident since Ashwani Vaishnaw became railway minister.
The present employees of IR are over worked due to shortage of staff; hence human errors expected. According to an RTI by ‘Chandrashekhar Gaur‘ there is a vacancy of almost 3 lakh positions in the IR, out of which 1.6 lakhs are for safety personnel. The posts include loco pilots, inspectors, crew controllers, loco instructors, train controllers, track maintainers, station masters, pointmen, electric signal maintainers, and signaling supervisors. These posts are crucial for the proper functioning and running of trains. The railway’s response to the RTI provided contrary figures: out of 1,000,941 total sanctioned posts, 152,734 were vacant under the safety category; out of 70,093 sanctioned posts for loco pilots, 14,429 were vacant; and out of 57,551 assistant pilots, 4,337 were vacant.
Just a day after the accident in Bengal, the railways announced an increase in assistant loco pilot posts from some 5000 to 18000 and to be filled as soon as possible. But the question arises: why was this not done earlier? Is there always a need for a tragedy to get the government’s focus on important matters concerning public safety, or do they simply not care about it?
Almost an year ago, on 2nd june 2023, one of the worst accidents in the history of Indian Railways happened in Balasore, Odisha, when the 12841 Coromandel Express bound for Chennai, Tamil Nadu, entered a loop line and collided with a stationary goods train carrying iron ore. Due to the high speed of 128km/h of the Coromandel Express, the train went over the goods train. Due to the density of the iron ore, the impact was strong which resulted in the casualities of 296 and more than 900 injured. Because of the derailed coaches of Coromandel express lying all over the tracks, another train 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah SF express headed towards Howrah, collided with them causing a triple train accident.
They say the reason behind the collison was because of an incorrect wiring in the signaling box, which led the Coromandel Express enter the loop line and ram into stationary goods train. This ‘incorrect wiring’ remained un-noticed for more than 2 years until the accident caused 296 deaths. On this, IR minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said “Anti collision device has nothing to do with the accident“.
The made-in-India Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as ‘KAVACH‘, was first introduced in 2012 as TCAS during the time of Mamata Banerjee as railway minister. Launched in 2020, KAVACH aimed to install 1500 km of tracks with the system annually.
Since then, not more than 1500 km of railway track under SCR (South Central Railways) has been equipped with the system. In 2022-23, under the “Bharat ka Kavach scheme,” the Centre planned to install 2000 km of rail network with the system.
After the tragedy of 17th June, 2024, the railways aims to install 44,000km of tracks with KAVACH, a figure which is over-exaggerated to deal with the current political pressure. To achieve this goal, the IR would have to work on almost 8800 km annually, which is 6 times more than the original plan of 1500 km annually. Keeping the previous track record of installing 10,000 km in SCR (South Central Railways), which is at a standstill of 1500 km, this figure of 44,000 km in 5 years is unachievable for the IR. The IR claims to achieve this goal when there are only 3 manufacturers of the devices and others are still in the development process.
The system, being very effective and important, is also an expensive one, costing almost around ₹50 lakh per kilometer. But to our good news, the railway has a dedicated fund of ₹4000 Cr for the project under the signaling and telecom budget section and another ₹2000 Cr under the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh. Still, there seems to be no progress in a project holding immense importance to the safety of the common man.
On 26th September, 2023, an EMU train from Shakur Basti, Delhi, climbed on platform in Mathura, while the train was handed over to the electrical worker who was drunk and busy on his mobile phone, the train derailed and climbed onto platform 2A of Mathura junction, disturbing the OHE line. This sounds less like an accident and more like negligence in the daily workings of the railways. The need to tell employees ‘not to drink on the job or use mobile phones for personal use, or worse, both’ is itself a sign of improper focus on work.
“Work theft and negligence” seems to be in the roots of the Indian railways. In 2006, an approval for a special freight corridor of 2843km was passed. Freight trains constitute fewer numbers than passenger trains, but they generate more revenue. That’s why a special freight corridor holds great importance for the development of the railways and the nation. The project, which was supposed to be completed by 2011 with a cost of ₹21,140 Cr, has inflated to almost four times in 2015, costing around ₹81,560 Cr. Eighteen years after the approval, 12% (almost 500 km) of the eastern section is still under construction.
On 11th October, 2023, Delhi-Kamakhya Northeast Express en route to Assam derailed in Buxar, Bihar. Almost 4 were killed in the accident and 71 got away with injuries. The railways, as usual, announced a compensation of 10 lakh for in case of death and 50000 for injuries.
Train derailments are more common than we assume; about 70% of total accidents are derailments or linked to derailments, but it doesn’t mean they are less of a concern. One of the major reason derailments occur is due to the wear & tear and old age of tracks, In 2015, a ‘white paper‘ raised the concerns about old tracks and advised the annual renewal of 4500kms of tracks for the safety and proper functioning of the railways. But this has not happened a single year until 2021-22.
According to a CAG report in 2021, which asked for the replacement of old assets worth of 94873Cr, the railways has a ‘Depreciation Reserve fund’ of 58450Cr. Only ₹670 Cr was used, and of that, ₹42 Cr was used to buy foot massagers, crockery, furniture, and other electrical appliances. This only shows the misplaced priorities within the railways.
Instead of focusing on pending unfinished projects, the camera has been panned towards those project which produce more lime-light. It is easier to make new trains than maintain them. It is also observed that an institution, especially a government one, performs well only when it is put under an adequate leadership and paid an extensive amount of attention, which most times doesn’t happen. The “government’s work” continues in the same way as the “government works”.
Team Profile
- Content Editor
- Vartikesh Singh, a journalism student at the Delhi School of Journalism, University of Delhi, is making waves in the field of media and communications. He holds the pivotal role of Content Editor at News India Official, where his dynamic skills drive the organisation's digital presence and engagement to new heights. His multifaceted talents make him an invaluable asset to the team.
