Authorities should have cut off access to rail track

Shanti Narayan
Former Member (Traffic), Railway Board (1997-2001)

THE ghastly train accident in Amritsar was the result of complete failure of due prudence — firstly, on the part of the state civil administration; secondly, the district police; and thirdly, which is no less important, the people themselves, as they should know that it is a crime to trespass on the railway track.

According to the facts available till now, I think the Railways had no positive or negative role to play in the form of being the cause of the accident or averting it, as according to the Railways Act, trains have the right of way. People and vehicular traffic can cross the track, but only through level crossings.

This is a very unique accident in the history of the Railways, in which discipline was lacking from all sides, including the event organisers, the local administration, the police and also the affected citizens themselves.

The site selected for such an event, which is so close to one of the busiest rail tracks of the section, is essentially inappropriate, particularly when we know that train paths in India are not fenced to the extent of making them inaccessible to people.

In this case, if at all approvals were granted to hold the event there, the sanctioning authority should have taken care of the safety aspect and ensured that no access to the track was possible. Even the cops present should have seen to it that people did not occupy the track.

The Railways has essentially two responsibilities – to keep the level crossing gate closed, which I believe was done, and the train driver should blow the whistle, which possibly he must have done. As far as applying the emergency brake was concerned, since the running train was on a curve, technically this option was not available with the loco-pilot. Had he applied the brake, derailment was inevitable and would have caused more damage in terms of loss of lives.

It is true that drivers are given a certain speed limit when they cross a city or a populated area, but this part could be debatable, as the train was about 3-3.5 km away from the railway station. On any other day, such movement of people does not take place in and around the accident site. So, the driver had very little choice to make in such a situation.

To avoid such accidents, the licensing authority should be sensitised to ensure that before granting approval for such an event near any vulnerable installation, including the rail track, precautionary measures are put in place. There should be adequate police ‘bandobast’ to oversee that no unsafe practice is being adopted by the people or the organisers.

To conclude, I must confess that we Indians are very weak in following our own system and so such accidents take place. 

(As told to Mukesh Ranjan)