Irked by derailments in Andhra, Railway Board chair tells official to stay at site and find solution

Multiple sources confirmed to The Indian Express that while discussing the derailment of eight wagons in the “KK” line on February 17, the local Divisional Railway Manager pointed out the unique gradient of the single line which passes through tunnels and treacherous terrain.

Unsatisfied with the response, Lahoti is learnt to have directed the official to park himself at the site, some 90 km from Visakhapatnam, “until a solution is found”, sources said.

When contacted, Waltair DRM AK Satpathy told The Indian Express that he will be on his way to the site on Thursday. “I have been there several times, and I will be going there tomorrow also. We are looking for a solution. The line needs to be doubled. It is an old line build with old technology, in difficult terrain that has 26 tunnels, a drop of 300-400 meters on one side and the mountain on the other…. it is tougher even than the Himalayas,” he said.

The KK line is one of the most profitable freight lines of Indian Railways built with Japanese financial aid in the 1960s.

The Railway Board discussed each recent case of accident threadbare, including the issue of erratic behaviour of the contentious Bogie-Mounted Brake System (BMBS). “It was decided to continue to run the trains with BMBS with reduced speeds and mix BMBS-fitted wagons with conventional-brake-fitted wagons in making rakes (goods trains),” said an official.

The Railway Board’s urgency in matters of safety is viewed in the light of Railways’ worse safety record than last year.

This year Indian Railways has witnessed 43 “consequential” train accidents, 12 more than last year. There have been 31 derailments compared to 25 last year and six collisions compared to just one last year.

While signal-jumping by drivers has been rampant, including in the BPBS trains, there has been a spate of accidents of goods trains. About the latest head-on collision of two goods trains in Lucknow Division last week, it was discussed that the inquiry report will be awaited even though it seemed like the driver had jumped signal. There have been 33 such cases so far this year, more than the same period the previous year.

Inspections since January have thrown up over 25,000 deficiencies vis-à-vis safety, out of which 23,000 stand addressed.