CR says 53 pc drop in accidents under its zone in FY17

A slew of preventive and remedial measures taken by authorities has led to a "significant" drop in the number of accidents under the Central Railway zone, an official said today.
"Owing to continuous efforts, there has been a significant drop in consequential accidents on the Central Railway. This is reflected in the figures of such accidents over the last few years," a CR press release said here.
In 2015-16, there were 52 rail-related incidents under the zone, which covers Maharashtra, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. In the subsequent fiscal year (2016-17), this figure reduced considerably by 53 per cent to 24, it said.

"In the current fiscal (from April to November), there has been only 11 such incidents, which is even more heartening," the release said.
The maximum reduction in mishaps has been seen in the areas which were earlier considered chronic, such as yard derailments and signal passing at danger (which occurs when an engine crew overshoot the signal), it said.
Sunil Udasi, chief PRO of CR, said the reduction in the rail-related incidents has been possible due to concerted efforts of the Central Railway.

"We have eliminated unmanned level crossing gates from broad gauge network and the staff operating in yards such as pointsmen, guards and loco pilots have been trained and counselled at large scale (on safety measures).

"Therefore, there has not been a single level crossing accident during the last two-and-a-half years," he said.
CR has procured safety spares for track maintenance on a war footing and the purchase of such items this year is nearly four times higher than the previous year, Udasi said.
"This year CR purchased safety spares worth Rs 160 crore as against about Rs 40 crore in previous few years."
"Our teams do extensive night inspection of tracks. Besides, we have procured high-tech breath analysers for crew lobbies to detect and prevent cases of alcoholism," he said.
Under an initiative, the Central Railway has trained its staff in disaster management to improve its reaction time in case of an accident, Udasi said.

'Consequential train accidents' include mishaps with serious repercussion in terms of loss of life or injury, damage to railway property or interruption to traffic. These include collisions, derailments, fire or explosion in trains.