Even as suspicion of sabotage surrounds almost every accident involving the Indian Railways, the ministry has clarified that the top causes of mishaps over the past two years were equipment failure, environmental factors and human errors, among others.
Replying to an RTI query, on the basis of inquiries conducted by Commissioners of Rail Safety (CRS), the Railway Ministry said the number of consequential train accidents has decreased over the past 10 years. The document provided by the ministry highlighted the safety record of Vande Bharat trains, indicating that no consequential train accidents, including derailments, have occurred with these trains since 2019. However, incidents of stone pelting have been reported.
This comes at a crucial time when the investigation into the Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express accident is going on. The initial technical assessment of the site, according to sources, had indicated a possibility of sabotage. However, the joint note prepared by the section officers did not draw any conclusion.
“The note doesn’t allow us to reach a definitive conclusion. The incident in Tamil Nadu appears to be unusual, and such rare incidents often suggest an irregularity. This leaves open the possibility of either a technical malfunction or a systemic issue. The key question now is whether this resulted from a failure in the system or human intervention,” explained a senior officer from Indian Railways.
THE ERRORS
Technical malfunctions, referred to as ‘equipment failure’, are relatively straightforward to understand. On the other hand, ‘human error’ encompasses mistakes made by railway employees, including the loco pilot or ground-based technical staff. This category includes incidents such as SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger) or other related issues. A comparable incident occurred with the Kanchenjunga Express, where human error was determined to be the cause of the accident.
Talking about the causes, a railways official said, “Environmental factors encompass issues related to natural disasters or other natural phenomena. For instance, if strong winds damage the Overhead Equipment (OHE), the resulting consequences would fall under this category. Similarly, if flooding causes track damage, the subsequent effects would also be classified as an influence of environmental factors.”
The Ministry, in the RTI reply, also presented the data of accidents in the past 20 years. The figures show a marked reduction from 351 accidents in 2002-03 to 40 in 2023-24. However, the data also reveals a troubling spike in casualties during the 2023-24 period, with 317 deaths and 749 injuries, compared to just two deaths and 76 injuries in the previous year.
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