Trains are back on track in Odisha’s Balasore, which witnessed the worst railway accident of the century in India last week. However, there will never be a solution for the hundreds of families who have lost their loved ones. There are lessons that need to be learned to avert such a tragedy in the future. Our politicians also need to reflect on whether they should rush to engage in a blame game when the ashes of the deceased have not even turned cold yet. This applies to all parties and administrations.
The way opposition parties rushed to demand the resignation of Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnav, citing precedents set by Lal Bahadur Shastri and Nitish Kumar, has triggered a new debate. A viral video showing a verbal duel between Vaishnav and former Railways Minister and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was a case in point of the politics surrounding this matter. Both leaders were in Balasore at the same time, and Vaishnav can be seen dismissing Mamata’s claim of 500 deaths and advising her not to politicize the issue.
But it seems that there were few takers for Vaishnav’s advice in the opposition camp. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress asked why there is no full-time Railways Minister since Vaishnav is holding two other portfolios as if such tragedies have never happened during the tenure of full-time ministers. Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction has compared the accident to the bridge collapse in Gujarat’s Morbi, casting aspersions that the BJP will try to save the guilty by terming the Balasore accident as an act of God.
The Congress alleged that the Modi government’s decision to hand over the accident probe to the CBI was just “headline management”. In reality, even railway officials are claiming that this incident was an aberration, and a normal investigation may not be able to uncover the complete truth. Recent changes in the electronic interlocking system supposedly caused the accident. Media reports suggest that it was apparently the main reason for the collision of the Coromandel Express, which changed tracks and collided with goods train on a loop line. This cannot be attributed to either technical fault or human error. One hopes that the CBI inquiry brings out the truth of the matter. The range of probable scenarios makes it an ideal case for a CBI probe, especially when only a few investigation agencies in India can claim the technical prowess required for such an investigation.
The way opposition parties rushed to demand the resignation of Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnav, citing precedents set by Lal Bahadur Shastri and Nitish Kumar, has triggered a new debate. A viral video showing a verbal duel between Vaishnav and former Railways Minister and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was a case in point of the politics surrounding this matter. Both leaders were in Balasore at the same time, and Vaishnav can be seen dismissing Mamata’s claim of 500 deaths and advising her not to politicize the issue.
The electronic interlocking system is widely used, and yet there are only a few examples of its failure. This adds to the complexity of the probe. Leaving the task of uncovering the truth solely to technocrats would only jeopardize the lives of millions of railway passengers in this case. Handing over the investigation to the CBI also resolves many issues of jurisdiction and bureaucratic red tape.
It is interesting to note that some of the leaders who have criticized calls for a minister for railroads have also held the position at one time or another. They know very well that someone is to be blamed for every accident, but can the system’s problems really be fixed with only one minister’s resignation? Every system would come crashing down if that were the case. Furthermore, if we pay attention, the occurrence in Balasore is unique compared to other instances in recent years, and the Railways Minister’s response in this instance is also exceptional. After the tragedy happened in the late evening, he was there the following morning and stayed at ground zero for more than 50 hours overseeing immediate relief and rescue work to restore the normalcy of the rail route. The continuous presence of the Railway Minister has fostered cooperation and coordination among various agencies. Both lines were examined, and train operations were restarted 51 hours after the accident. Perhaps for the first time since India gained independence, the railway minister has remained on-site nonstop to supervise rescue efforts and damage assessments. Today, as the country gradually recovers from this rail tragedy, how can we overlook the dedication of the Railway Minister towards fulfilling their responsibilities?
We cannot, however, ignore the concerns about safe travel that this episode has brought to the fore once more. This is crucial because, according to an estimate, 2.2 crore people in our country travel every day in some capacity, with a sizable percentage using trains. Railways continue to be the most dependable and cost-effective mode of transportation for an average Indian. It is the duty of the government to uphold this confidence. There must be some accountability and a cause for an incident that resulted in more than 275 fatalities and over 1,000 injuries. How can we establish responsibility, is the question.
What can we infer about this event? Will this tragedy signal the start of a major shift? First and foremost, the situation should be thoroughly and objectively investigated. No matter how advanced the infrastructure is, if safety and quality don’t improve, it becomes irrelevant. We are all aware that modern railroads employ cutting-edge technology. When two trains collided in the past, the carriages would climb over one another to avoid being damaged. However, brand-new anti-climbing coaches have been added to trains recently, and they are precisely made to prevent them from climbing over one another in the event of a collision.
This claim, meanwhile, did not hold true in Balasore. The ‘Kavach’ technology, which is intended exclusively for crossing signals and avoiding crashes, has been in operation since last year. This device can automatically apply the brakes and halt the train at a safe distance if two trains unintentionally end up on the same track. Questions concerning this approach have also been raised in the wake of the Balasore incident. However, only 2.13% of the nation’s 68,000 kilometres of railway have the Kavach system in place as of now, and regrettably, the Balasore route was not one of them.
Shortage of employees is an equally important issue as safety in railways. There are 3.12 lakh vacant non-gazetted positions in the railways, many of which fall under the security category, according to information provided by the railway minister himself in the Rajya Sabha in December last year. Lack of human resources is forcing train pilots to work in longer shifts than the allotted 12 hours. Long work hours and associated stress have a significant role in railway accidents.
The nation’s political opposition has also posed a number of questions, however, their strategy is also under fire. Without a doubt, the occurrence is quite regrettable, and no criticism can excuse it. However, at a moment when it should be a top priority to unite, work to avert the catastrophe in the future, and identify those at fault, the opposition has instead put their own sensitivity and political responsibility on trial by asking such questions.
