Opinion Suresh Prabhu’s push for railways’ special safety fund is a welcome step

The Railways Minister has said that the government will procure technology and equipment for more rigorous inspections of safety threats on the rail network and reduce dependence on manual inspections by Railways personnel. The Railways will apparently seek to procure equipment primarily meant to quickly detect cracks on rail lines–one of the major reasons for accidents and derailments.

It is to be noted that since 2009, nearly 40 per cent of the accidents on the Railways network have been caused by human error of the Railways staff. So, the proposed step seems to be on the right track.

Of course, the entire responsibility can not be put on automated systems and human involvement will be there to some degree, and to that end the minister assured that he will ensure that the Railways staff is properly sensitised and trained to follow all technical protocols and understand the old as well as the new technologies for effective implementation. All Railways officers are also directed to involve themselves in inspection exercises on a regular basis.

To realise the plan, the ministry has requested special fund from the finance ministry and it is understood that the latter has agreed in-principle to grant the same. This comes as a ray of hope and now the onus lies on the finance minister to clear the way for the same.

Japanese and Korean experts will review the current infrastructure to suggest steps required for improvement and it seems more than likely that procurement of equipment and technology of such scale as required, will be foreign. However, if the plan has merit and the technologies and equipment can detect such dangers to avoid accidents, then it seems it may be worth the investment.