In India, one tragedy overtakes another and yesterday’s tragedy is soon forgotten. The derailment of 2301 Up Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express has already faded into oblivion. Now the Commissioner of Railway Safety’s report suggests the accident had nothing to do with the state of the bridge. Statistics on accidents, especially when expressed as a ratio of million kilometers traveled per year, are improving. And most accidents have nothing to do with bridges. Railway figures suggest that 84.5 per cent of accidents are caused by human failure. And equipment failure — track, vehicles, signaling systems — contribute 8 per cent. The Kadalundi disaster in Kerala in 2001 seems the only one where an old bridge was directly responsible. On June 25 2001, at the time of Kadalundi, Indian Express wrote an editorial titled ‘Bridges of Death’. This said, ‘‘There will be a routine investigation, which will conveniently blame the system. No babu or neta will be called to account. In fact, we have another world record of criminal negligence when it comes to bridges: 262 bridges have been identified as ‘distressed’ and in need of urgent repair, according to the 1999 Justice H.R. Khanna report of the Railway Safety Review Committee. Imagine, out of the 1.2 lakh bridges on the railway network, nearly half were built by the colonial sarkar in the 19th century, and they have not even been maintained by the various successive governments after independence.’’ The Express exaggerates. There are 1,19,724 bridges on the railway network and 51,340 go back to the 19th century. 51,340 bridges mean 42.9 per cent, not nearly half. Since bridges last 80 to 90 years, the Railways describe these old bridges as ‘over-aged assets’. They are not necessarily ‘distressed’. Distressed describes the worst of the lot and is a technical definition under the Indian Railway Bridge Manual. A distressed bridge is ‘‘one which shows signs of deterioration in its physical condition indicating the need for rehabilitation through special repairs or rebuilding.’’ Rather remarkably, this identification is done through visual inspection, not through structural tests. 262 bridges are officially distressed. The others are simply distressing. At the time of the 2001 accident, the then minister of state for railways said that 300 bridges are repaired every year. Therefore, by 2002, the distressed bridges should have been taken care of. But at the time of the 2002 accident, the present minister of state for railways tells us that the number of distressed bridges has increased to 526. Even more remarkably, a bridge does not have to be officially distressed for an accident to occur. The one in Kadalundi wasn’t distressed. It was renovated in 1986 and passed maintenance inspection. So much for inspections. If we have to junk all 51,340 distressing bridges, and the present rate of 300 bridges per year continues, we need to wait 171 years. Till then, the only recourse we have is instruction to drivers to slow down as they approach distressed bridges. Note that there are no speed restrictions on distressing bridges. You won’t find anything on bridges, on the Indian Railways site or in the Status Paper, though the Khanna Committee felt this was as important as track renewal Quantitatively, old bridges may not have contributed to too many accidents. But they have always figured in recommendations of inquiry committees — the Kunzru Committee in 1962, the Wanchoo Committee in 1968, the Sikri Committee in 1978 and of course, the Khanna Committee. The Sikri Committee said, ‘‘Against 1247 bridges treated as distressed at the time of the Wanchoo Committee, the number over a period of 10 years has increased to 3553. The sharp increase in the number of distressed bridges is disquieting. A special programme designed to complete the rehabilitation of these bridges within a specified time is, therefore, called for. We consider that, for a correct appreciation of the magnitude of the problem or rehabilitation of distressed bridges, a definition of the term distressed bridge is called for.’’ The Khanna Committee prescribed a time period. Task forces were supposed to check all distressed and old bridges (more than 100 years old or made of ‘early steel’), going beyond visual inspections. All distressed bridges were supposed to have been rehabilitated within five years. Of course, five years have not elapsed since the Committee’s report was released in 2000. There is certainly the perennial money issue. The Railways are bankrupt not merely because there is a revenue problem, but also because expenditure is inefficient. If you visit the Indian Railways site, you will find ‘150 glorious years’ flashing across the screen. You will find Bholu the guard waving a flag. The page also displays forms you have to fill up to claim compensation in case of death or injury. You will find a Status Paper brought out in 2002. You won’t find anything on bridges, either on the site or in the Status Paper, although the Khanna Committee felt that this was just as important as track renewal. The Khanna Committee also remarked that the Railways don’t have anything like ‘‘a railway safety policy document’’. However, the Status Paper will tell you that a Special Railway Safety Fund worth Rs 17,000 crore has been formed. Rs 5000 crore will come from the Railways through a safety surcharge and Rs 12,000 crore will come from the general budget. Rs 17,000 crore will replace overdue ‘renewal assets’ by the end of the Tenth Plan. The Khanna Committee suggested Rs 15,000 crore for renewing all over-aged assets, not just bridges. The estimated Rs 15,000 crore has become Rs 17,000 crore. But if you think the Special Railway Safety Fund already has Rs 17,000 crore, you are mistaken. That will be over a five-year period. Last year, the Fund had Rs 1400 crore. This year, it has Rs 2210 crore. What is this money being used for? The Railway Ministry’s site won’t tell you. During the Ninth Plan, the Railways spent Rs 650 crore for rebuilding distressed bridges. How many bridges have been rebuilt as a result? You won’t learn that either. There are some estimates that it will take Rs 15,000 crore to only rehabilitate the distressed and distressing bridges. When there are so many competing demands for money (new zones, new trains, 1.6 million employees), it shouldn’t be a surprise that we have to wait 171 years. Or till the next disaster, for bridges to be mentioned again.
