To The Point: The Superficial Handling Of The Indian Railways

Is there a precedent in the world since the advent of the railway, of a criminal investigative agency investigating a rail accident? In the case of a train blast or an explosion, it’s understandable. Though it sounds surreal, even before the railway has reached a conclusion, a CBI inquiry has been ordered into Odisha’s triple train collision. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw proclaimed that the root cause of the accident is the interference with the electronic interlocking system and points which ensures safe movement of the trains. If the cause was identified then why the CBI inquiry? Is this not an effort to cover up the glaring loopholes within the railway systems and its unattended problems, which abound? The Narendra Modi government conventionally seems to have the habit of putting the cart before the horse. High-speed trains are inaugurated but no publicity on the upgradation of tracks, bullet trains are introduced but no answers on the commuter problems, seaplanes made a splash in the news and the Gujarat government says that the services are non-functional because of the high operating costs. Has the central government got its priorities wrong when it comes to building infrastructure? In a bid to claim expediency, the Modi government has given safety a go-by.

Following the horrific three-way train accident in Odisha’s Balasore, safety of India's trains has come to the fore. The 2022 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has flagged multiple shortcomings. The report titled Derailment in Indian Railways has highlighted shortfalls in inspections, failure to submit or accept inquiry reports after accidents, failure to use a dedicated fund on priority tasks, a severe decline in track renewal funding and most importantly inadequate staffing in safety operations. I am quoting the most important line from the CAG report which will make one think how compromised is the safety of our trains and tracks. “There were shortfalls ranging from 30-100% in inspections by Track Recording Cars required to assess geometrical and structural conditions of railway tracks.”

The CAG report said that the Track Management System (TMS) — a web based application for online monitoring of track maintenance activities — was not operational. The report pointed out the costs of derailments, pegging it at Rs 32.96 crore, from reports compiled across 16 railway zones, witness to 1129 derailments.

It’s very clear that the railways has not been adhering to the scheduled timelines for conducting and finalistation of accident inquiries and developing a strong monitoring mechanism. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Modi asking him the logic behind the CBI inquiry. He even made a reference to the 2016 Kanpur train accident in which 150 passengers were killed and which was later followed by an investigation by the NIA. The order of events in the Kanpur and Odisha mishaps are almost similar. The government makes a pointed reference to a sabotage theory, follows it up with an investigation by a Central investigation agency, and then no questions asked on fixing accountability. No one knows what caused the 2016 train accident; the NIA even wrapped up its investigation, no chargesheet was filed and no probing done by the media as well. Is the Odisha train mishap going to meet the same fate?

It's the hard-earned taxpayer's money which goes into the running of railways. Isn't it the prime duty of a responsible government to let the people know the truth behind the Odisha triple train crash? Suppressing the truth is tantamount to hiding the facts from the people and compromising with the safety and security of passengers. There is a serious concern amongst the common passengers about this deterioration of safety. A superficial touchup to remain in the news seems to be the only concern of the Modi government. Anti-train collision devices originally by the name of Raksha Kavach was rechristened as Kavach but was conveniently put on the back burner. Can Modi answer as to why only 4% of the routes have been covered by Kavach till date. Instead of coming out with the truth behind the incident, it seems it's going to become a case of a classic coverup through a CBI inquiry. As a footnote to the sad story, is the CBI inquiry into the Odisha train accident only to get the release of the final report on train accident exempted under the RTI Act? Well, think about it.

Neelu Vyas is a senior television anchor and consulting editor with Satya Hindi