Railways holds safety review meeting

Four days after the Kanpur rail derailment tragedy claimed over 149 lives, the Indian Railways on Thursday held a safety review meeting with the staffs of six railway zones and asked them to give top priority to safety.

"There should be no laxity in matters of safety," Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said while addressing over 50 trackmen and keymen, who attened the safety-review meeting.

Gohain also directed the railway officials to conduct safety drives regularly and prepare time-bound action plan on safety matters.

The minister heard the difficulties faced by the trackmen and keymen like presence of unauthorised constructions and localities close to the railway tracks which create hurdle in track maintenance work.

At least 149 people died in one of the worst rail tragedies on November 20, when 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna Express derailed near Pukhrayan station, 60 km from Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh.

--IANS

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