Kakodkar to head a rail safety panel

The High Level Safety Review Committee will submit its report within three months.

“There is zero-tolerance attitude when it comes to adhering to security norms at nuclear plants and space centres. We want to make use of best of safety protocol existent at such places,” said Trivedi.

The move comes in the wake of two recent rail mishaps — the Arrakonam rail accident in Tamil Nadu which left ten people dead and the Kalka Mail accident where 60 people were killed.

Headed by Anil Kakodkar,former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission,the panel will have as members N Vedachalam of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,Sanjay Dhande of IIT-Kanpur and G P Srivastava of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Sreedharan will be an adviser to the committee.

Based on the accidents in the recent past,the panel would examine signalling systems,rolling stock of all types and human resource development with emphasis on training,education and research. It would also suggest if there is a need for a third party audit,organisational and structural changes in Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) or in any other department,as well as improvements in procedural system.