Few reasons which may be are responsible for Train Accidents [TKB India]

• West Bengal train accident: In June 17, the accident occurred at Ruidhasa near Rangapani station in the Katihar Railway Division, ahead of New Jalpaiguri Junction, at approximately 8:45 am on June 17, 2024. The mishap, in which nine passengers were killed, occurred within the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district.

• Bihar train derailments: On October 11, 2023, the Anand Vihar-Kamakhya North East Express derailed near Raghunathpur Railway Station in Buxar, Bihar. Six coaches went off the tracks, resulting in four deaths and over 70 injuries. The incident led to an investigation, underscoring the need for improved railway maintenance and safety measures.

• Odisha train tragedy: The tragic incident occurred on June 2, when the Coromandel Express collided with a stationary freight train at Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore district. This collision resulted in the derailment of some coaches, which then collided with the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express. The accident claimed the lives of 293 people and injured over 1,200 others.
• Andhra Pradesh train collision: On October 29, 2023, two passenger trains collided in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district. The Visakhapatnam-Palasa train crashed into the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada train, resulting in 14 deaths. The incident was blamed on signal failure and human error, raising concerns about upgrading railway signalling systems to prevent future accidents.

Few reasons which may be are responsible:

1. Lack of anti-fog equipments : This primarily is in regard to derailments during winters. The lack of equipments which can help smooth running of trains on track during winters is less, rather restricted to very few trains. Either the trains run late or fall prey to derailment.
2. Less attention on manual examination : Accordingly, this is one major reason. On one hand, we lack the very necessary modern equipment and on the other hand, we do not utilise the workforce in the right way. The good old way of manual examination of tracks is a practise which I believe should be used in practise in a proper way again.
3. Negligence on duty : There are few cases where the derailment is result of pure negligence. Sometimes it is one person and at others, it is negligence at multiple levels.
4. Lack of proper training : The training is a little slack. The person on duty is not aware about what real life scenarios may look like. The lack of training and guidance creates issues when it comes to real world scenarios.
5. Lack of incentive/ motivation : Say there is a track which rarely sees derailments or maybe an area which has not seen derailment over a long span of time. It is because of the workers in that area. A little incentive or appreciation can serve as motivation for them and others as well. However, this does not happen actually.