By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Sep 10 2002 (IPS)

As the toll in Monday night’s train mishap in India’s eastern Bihar state crossed a hundred dead, fingers are again being pointed at the low priority the government accords to safety issues in the rail network that moves 15 million people everyday.

After visiting the site of the accident, Bihar’s most prominent politician Laloo Prasad Yadav pronounced the mishap — several coaches of the luxury Rajdhani Express bound for the national capital from the eastern metropolis of Kolkata fell off a bridge — a simple case of ‘’poor maintenance”.

Yadav was accompanied by Bihar’s chief minister, Rabri Devi, who is also his wife.

The train was speeding over a bridge dating back 95 years and built by British colonials over a small river near Rafiqganj station some 200 kilometres south of Bihar’s capital, Patna. Sixteen coaches fell into the bed of a rivulet, while the engine crossed over safely and two coaches remained on the other side.

Federal Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, also Yadav’s main political rival, was quick to defend his ministry and sought to blame the mishap on possible sabotage. He added that fishplates, which hold rail sections together, had been removed.

While the government has ordered an inquiry into the exact cause of the accident, India’s Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani was candid enough to say that he sees no reason to suspect sabotage. Advani holds the key home portfolio as well.

As politicians squabble over the likely cause of the mishap, experts are gently reminding them that not enough priority is being given to safety aspects on India’s ageing railway network, which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year.

Said C M Khosla, former member of the country’s Railway Board: ‘’Too many decisions are being made on political considerations and the issues of technical upgradation and modernisation are being neglected for lack of funds.”

Khosla said that over the past 10 years, the percentage of money allocated for track renewals alone has gone down from 17 percent to about 14 percent when it should have been going up. ‘’You can see the results,” he said.

Experts attribute a spate of horrendous accidents in recent years to populist budgeting, which has kept fares low and the trains and tracks overcrowded. Often in vain, they point out that the improvement of safety systems corresponding to the railways’ incessant expansion is missing.

In fact, the last major railway accident, which occurred at Kadalundi in southern Kerala state in June 2001, happened after a train fell off a more than century old bridge and into a lake. The accident claimed 57 lives, and most of the victims drowned.

According to M K Mishra, who also served on the railway board, passenger traffic over the past 50 years has gone up by more than 500 percent and freight by 600 percent, but inputs have been less than 200 percent.

Only too obviously, bridges, tracks and signaling equipment date back to the steam era and were never designed to take on fast-moving, heavy, airconditioned coaches of the type used on the Rajdhani class of trains, which are meant to link together India’s major metropolises with the national capital and provide an alternative to air travel.

Internal documents of the railway ministry reveal inadequate facilities for even the routine examination of engines and rolling stock, while more trains are added to timetables to please particular political constituencies.

Last year, in response to frequent accidents, the government announced a safety tax on tickets and budgeted 300 million U.S. dollars to be spent over the next six years on safety measures, especially track and bridge renewal.

But the money is already being diverted to new lines and the creation of new railway centres that are being opened with much fanfare.

Said S M Vaish a retired general manager: “There is no lack of funds. It is a question of priorities… after all there can be no opening ceremonies for a safety project.”

Test audits in the past have in fact revealed a complete ignorance by the staff on matters of basic safety about the railways, due mainly to a shortage of training staff.

At least a third of accidents are caused by the failure of railway staff. Another third are the result of failure of tracks, including fractures caused by excessive use and the slow phasing out of overaged rolling stock.

An estimate made last year showed that at least 50,000 of India’s bridges date back to the 19th century and some 12,000 km of track urgently need replacement. At least 35,000 coaches and goods wagons need to be retired.

India’s railway network now stretches over 63,000 km, making it the world’s second largest.

The money to improve the railway system could be found by raising tariffs, which are among the lowest in the world. But that would be unpopular — the railways network is big enough to present its own budget every year immediately before the annual budget itself is presented.

Nitish Kumar’s immediate predecessor as railway minister, Mamata Bannerjee, had in fact committed herself to a ‘’no passenger fare hike” policy, although experts like Khosla estimate that keeping fares low does not necessarily translate into votes.

The Rajdhani Express class trains are fully air-conditioned and usually carry well-off passengers who pay comparatively high fares and are definitely concerned with safety.

Bannerjee and Kumar are bitter rivals for the coveted railway portfolio. Earlier this year, they were engaged in a squabble over the division of the eastern sector of the railways, which led to bitterness between Bannerjee’s West Bengal and Bihar.

This division was purely political and conferred no special benefit on the railway system, but was supposed to have raised Kumar’s standing in Bihar.

A few years ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) listed India’s railways as one of the government-run enterprises due for a drastic reduction in ‘’expenditure subsidies” and ‘’restructuring” or privatisation. But, critics point out, privatisation has not helped the railways of neighbouring Pakistan, which are of the same vintage.

Excerpt:

By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Sep 10 2002 (IPS)

As the toll in Monday night’s train mishap in India’s eastern Bihar state crossed a hundred dead, fingers are again being pointed at the low priority the government accords to safety issues in the rail network that moves 15 million people everyday.

After visiting the site of the accident, Bihar’s most prominent politician Laloo Prasad Yadav pronounced the mishap — several coaches of the luxury Rajdhani Express bound for the national capital from the eastern metropolis of Kolkata fell off a bridge — a simple case of “poor maintenance”.

Yadav was accompanied by Bihar’s chief minister, Rabri Devi, who is also his wife.

The train was speeding over a bridge dating back 95 years and built by British colonials over a small river near Rafiqganj station some 200 kilometres south of Bihar’s capital, Patna. Sixteen coaches fell into the bed of a rivulet, while the engine crossed over safely and two coaches remained on the other side.

Federal Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, also Yadav’s main political rival, was quick to defend his ministry and sought to blame the mishap on possible sabotage. He added that fishplates, which hold rail sections together, had been removed.

While the government has ordered an inquiry into the exact cause of the accident, India’s Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani was candid enough to say that he sees no reason to suspect sabotage. Advani holds the key home portfolio as well.

As politicians squabble over the likely cause of the mishap, experts are gently reminding them that not enough priority is being given to safety aspects on India’s ageing railway network, which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year.

Said C M Khosla, former member of the country’s Railway Board: “Too many decisions are being made on political considerations and the issues of technical upgradation and modernisation are being neglected for lack of funds.”

Khosla said that over the past 10 years, the percentage of money allocated for track renewals alone has gone down from 17 percent to about 14 percent when it should have been going up. “You can see the results,” he said.

Experts attribute a spate of horrendous accidents in recent years to populist budgeting, which has kept fares low and the trains and tracks overcrowded. Often in vain, they point out that the improvement of safety systems corresponding to the railways’ incessant expansion is missing.

In fact, the last major railway accident, which occurred at Kadalundi in southern Kerala state in June 2001, happened after a train fell off a more than century old bridge and into a lake. The accident claimed 57 lives, and most of the victims drowned.

According to M K Mishra, who also served on the railway board, passenger traffic over the past 50 years has gone up by more than 500 percent and freight by 600 percent, but inputs have been less than 200 percent.

Only too obviously, bridges, tracks and signaling equipment date back to the steam era and were never designed to take on fast-moving, heavy, airconditioned coaches of the type used on the Rajdhani class of trains, which are meant to link together India’s major metropolises with the national capital and provide an alternative to air travel.

Internal documents of the railway ministry reveal inadequate facilities for even the routine examination of engines and rolling stock, while more trains are added to timetables to please particular political constituencies.

Last year, in response to frequent accidents, the government announced a safety tax on tickets and budgeted 300 million U.S. dollars to be spent over the next six years on safety measures, especially track and bridge renewal.

But the money is already being diverted to new lines and the creation of new railway centres that are being opened with much fanfare.

Said S M Vaish a retired general manager: “There is no lack of funds. It is a question of priorities… after all there can be no opening ceremonies for a safety project.”

Test audits in the past have in fact revealed a complete ignorance by the staff on matters of basic safety about the railways, due mainly to a shortage of training staff.

At least a third of accidents are caused by the failure of railway staff. Another third are the result of failure of tracks, including fractures caused by excessive use and the slow phasing out of overaged rolling stock.

An estimate made last year showed that at least 50,000 of India’s bridges date back to the 19th century and some 12,000 km of track urgently need replacement. At least 35,000 coaches and goods wagons need to be retired.

India’s railway network now stretches over 63,000 km, making it the world’s second largest.

The money to improve the railway system could be found by raising tariffs, which are among the lowest in the world. But that would be unpopular — the railways network is big enough to present its own budget every year immediately before the annual budget itself is presented.

Nitish Kumar’s immediate predecessor as railway minister, Mamata Bannerjee, had in fact committed herself to a “no passenger fare hike” policy, although experts like Khosla estimate that keeping fares low does not necessarily translate into votes.

The Rajdhani Express class trains are fully air-conditioned and usually carry well-off passengers who pay comparatively high fares and are definitely concerned with safety.

Bannerjee and Kumar are bitter rivals for the coveted railway portfolio. Earlier this year, they were engaged in a squabble over the division of the eastern sector of the railways, which led to bitterness between Bannerjee’s West Bengal and Bihar.

This division was purely political and conferred no special benefit on the railway system, but was supposed to have raised Kumar’s standing in Bihar.

A few years ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) listed India’s railways as one of the government-run enterprises due for a drastic reduction in “expenditure subsidies” and “restructuring” or privatisation. But, critics point out, privatisation has not helped the railways of neighbouring Pakistan, which are of the same vintage.

Excerpt: