Indian Railways News

[ezsasa]

so was checking why is there such an insistence on firing railway minister a prevalent notion.

it turns out, out of 39 cabinet ministers of railways since seperate ministry was formed , only two cabinet ministers did full term , that's it.

- Babu Jagjiivan Ram- 1957 to 1962
- Lalu prasad Yadav - 2004 to 2009

leaving out revolving chair coalition govts that came in between.

so basically all lalu fanboys are afraid his record might be broken
in UPA 2 there were 9 cabinet ministers.

Minister of Railways (India) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Arjun Mk1A]

Yesterday came across an Rail video in which Ernakulam - Tirupathi Bi weekly express is an Kavach Installed system. Apart from VBs in SR this is another train with Kavach. Very random in nature.

Railways should prioritize Kavach installation in a better way.

 

[Azaad]

Excellent interview of Sudhanshu Mani by Arihant Pawariya of Vaad . Serves as a timely critique of IR & this government as well as indulges in crystal ball gazing as to the immediate agenda of the Ministry of Railways.

For perspective 100% electrification of IR was achieved somewhere last year which in S Mani's opinion was not thought out completely & seemed more of a vanity project. In the bargain nearly 5000 Diesel Locomotives worth ~ INR 25,000 cr are now idling in carsheds with plenty of service life still left .

VB can serve as a platform to develop a train running at 250 kmph but it'd require 4-5 yrs of development starting today & can't be accomplished within the T/L set which is 1 year & by the looks of it seems destined to be a export version & not meant to run on the Mum Ahm HSR route where the terms of agreement with Japan explicitly states that the signalling equipment & locomotive would be sourced from Japan.

Interestingly , he claims that while the present VB platform can be developed into a train running at 250 kmph , anything in excess of those speeds viz a true blue Bullet Train will require a ToT or technical collaboration with a foreign OEM.

Plenty of other hot button topics & long term planning & execution discussed in this interview.

Must watch IMO.

 

[another_armchair]

Bengal train crash: Signal was defective since 5.50 am

The Railway Board in its initial statement said that the driver of the goods train violated the signal.

www.rediff.com

"Train No 13174 (Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express) departed Rangapani station at 8:27 am and stopped between Ranipatra railway station and Chattar Hat due to automatic signalling failure from 5:50 am," the source told PTI.

According to another railway official, when the automatic signalling system fails, the station master issues a written authority called TA 912, which authorises the driver to cross all red signals in the section because of the defect.

"The station master of Ranipatra had issued TA 912 to Train No 1374 (Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express)," the source said.

He added, "Around the same time, a goods train, GFCJ, departed Rangapani at 8:42 am and hit 13174 in the rear portion resulting from the derailment of the guard's coach, two parcel coaches and a general seating coach."

The Railway Board in its initial statement said that the driver of the goods train violated the signal. It pegged the overall death toll at five. However, some local officials said it could be as high as 15.

Sources said that an investigation alone can establish whether the goods train was also given TA 912 to cross defective signals at speed or if it was the loco pilot, who violated the defective signal norm.

If it is the latter, the driver was supposed to stop the train for one minute at each defective signal and move on with 10 kmph speed.

The loco pilot's body has questioned the Railways' statement that the driver violated the red signal.

"It is highly objectionable to announce the dear loco pilot responsible when he is dead and CRS inquiry pending," Sanjay Pandhi, the working president of the Indian Railway Loco Runningmen Organisation (IRLRO), said.

According to Railway Board Chairperson Jaya Varma Sinha, the collision happened because a goods train disregarded the signal and hit the Kanchanjungha Express, which was on way to Sealdah from Agartala.

 

[mokoman]

was surprised to see this post , person behind vande bharat

 

[another_armchair]

 

[another_armchair]

was surprised to see this post , person behind vande bharat

Salty Sudhanshu... because ...

 

[Coalmine]

13174 Kanchenjunga express met with @ccident I was onboard till LMG - Safety issue or Human error ? (youtube.com)

 

[Coalmine]

But central Govt is also responsible for appeasing the qaum people. Impose pota on them and make them second class citizens. Everyone is a suspect

 

[Cheepek]

Yup.. know that bit of news. Hopefully Kavach will help reduce collisions and hopefully it won't become a victim of sabotage(negligence).

Take the Balasore incident.

Would it be fair to blame the RM or anyone when the fuckup happened because of those entrusted to carry out their job with utmost responsibility?

Railways and GoI can reduce the blowback by announcing a decent compensation. I know this is a pain to implement but travelers on unreserved tickets could also get access to travel insurance if they are willing to share their Aadhaar details while purchasing the ticket. Can charge an extra 5-10 bucks... doubt many would blink or crib over the extra charge.

One way out is for Railways to enforce insurance on all tickets. This removes any scope of mindless litigation where lawyers from both sides profit with no resolution in sight. Paying an extra 10 bucks won't bankrupt any rail traveler.

By decent you mean >10 lakhs?

 

[another_armchair]

By decent you mean >10 lakhs?

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1959653

Amount of Ex-gratia for Train Accidents, Untoward Incidents and Manned Level Crossing Gate Accidents

	Type of accident	Amount of ex-gratia for Death	Amount of ex-gratia for Grievous Injury	Amount of ex-gratia for Simple Injury
1.	Train Accident (as defined 1) under Section 124 of the Railways Act, 1989)	Rs. 5,00,000/ (Rupees Five lakh only)	Rs. 2,50,000/ (Rupees Two lakh Fifty thousand only)	Rs. 50,000/ (Rupees Fifty Thousand only)
2.	Untoward Incident (as defined under Section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989)	Rs. 1,50,000/ (Rupees One lakh Fifty Thousand only)	Rs. 50,000/ (Rupees Fifty Thousand only)	Rs. 5,000/ (Rupees Five Thousand only)
3.	Accident at Manned Level Crossing (due to Railway's prima facie liability)	Rs. 5,00,000/ (Rupees Five lakh only)	Rs. 2,50,000/ (Rupees Two lakh Fifty thousand only)	Rs. 50,000/ (Rupees Fifty Thousand only)

Compensation for death is 5,00,000.

If ticket prices on average go up by Rs. 5, given average daily ridership of 2 crores, that's a compensation corpus of over 3,500 crores in one year. Assume even half the sum is invested in an insurance fund...or even govt bonds...going by the power of compounding... Railways could end up having a big fat corpus to pay adequate compensation to next of kin or wounded survivors.

We have enough heart wrenching stories of people maimed in railway accidents.. left to fend for themselves after they got discharged from the hospital.... all in the name of 'indomitable sprite of india'.

As of today, buying travel insurance while booking your train tickets through irctc isn't mandatory anymore.