MyVoice: Views of our readers 5th June 2023

Safety matters more than new trains

Despite the outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for Indian Railways in last budget, which was the “highest to date,” the government must make serious efforts to spend more on railways as the cost of railway infrastructure is too high for the Indian Railways alone to bear. Also, money is being spent on launching new trains but not enough on safety and upgrading infrastructure. As a result, maintenance of tracks to prevent derailments and other priorities like capacity and doubling gets little attention. Going forward, Indian Railways will have to ensure the system works more optimally, to bring down derailments even more.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Washington

Prima facie it is established that human error is likely the reason for the horrific pileup of three trains at Bahanaga railway station that claimed almost 300 lives. It is a tragic reminder of the need for more reliable safety measures, as the present focus is on the speed, and reduced travel time to reach destinations. The fact that the ‘Bullet Train’ is readying for its entry into India, must naturally pave the way for stringent safety features on the general busy railway network in the country. One wonders, why the anti-collision mechanism that is developed in the country is not being put to rapid induction in the railways.

S Lakshmi, Hyderabad

The terrible incident of triple collision of trains at Balasore in Odisha has been a nightmarish experience for the passengers who survived the accident. The incident has already claimed more than 288 lives, and is being seen as the worst train accident in recent times, owing to human error. This is a stark reminder for more foolproof and reliable safety measures to be in place for all trains since the railway network in the country, with more new train routes added regularly. It is time for political parties to bury the hatchet and engage in constructive and result-oriented dialogue rather than blindly seeking the resignation of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who is supervising the relief and restoration work at the accident site.

K R Venkata Narasimhan, Madurai

Undoubtedly it is a national tragedy of enormous proportions in recent times and all the more so if it were to be true that the accident occured due to a ‘deliberate’ human error. The level of erosion of human values in the country is evident in this incident which is being suspected to be a case of sabotage. As stated by the Prime Minister, all the culprits who were responsible for the ‘accident’ should be booked and convicted without further delay. The human loss and the loss to railway property as well as that of the travelling public cannot be fathomed and therefore the union government should take this seriously and deal with the case accordingly.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada

Reviewing the accidents and investigating for the causes is common for any type of accidents. Our Railways carry huge number of passengers daily.

Yet, the trains are made to run without updated safeties and technologies . The locomotive pilots have to drive without any technical support and related visual indications. heels vibration and their wobbling shall be sensed and indicated too. Bogies monitoring from the drivers’ cabin shall be visually provided. Emergency locator beacons, anti-collision system and instant way of providing the alerts and communication to the passengers are nowhere for any of the trains. Humble request to the Railways Minister to implement as many as possible and usable updated safety devices in all the trains ,at the earliest .

G Murali Mohan Rao, Secunderabad

Safety measures alone cannot guarantee a secure railway system. Efficient functioning and management are equally critical which encompasses well-trained and disciplined railway personnel who adhere strictly to safety protocols. It also necessitates robust emergency response plans, effective communication systems and seamless coordination between various departments and authorities. Government should address this issue with urgency and allocate adequate funds for railways to ensure safety of the passengers as the top priority during their journey besides all other things.

Bishal Kumar Saha, Murshidabad

It is very sad our railway system is progressing by introducing bullet trains, high speed trains like Vande Bharat etc., but signalling system is not being updated that causes many accidents in the system. It is praiseworthy as several state governments including AP, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have come forward to extend their help in rescue operations so as to strengthen NDRF and ODRF and fire services. It is also significant that the youth made queues at hospitals to donate blood to the injured persons.

Pratapa Reddy Y, Tiruvuru

Dhoni proves his mettle yet again

MS Dhoni is a phenomenal cricketer and played a pivotal role in the recent IPL winning team CSK to achieve the 5th title and thereby erase last year’s disastrous outing. Last season, CSK could win only 4 matches and were last but one in the IPL 15 standings. The major reason for the poor show was the way Jadeja backed out of captaincy with poor performances with both bat and ball. This season, Dhoni had to put extra efforts to make things happen as a skipper, batsman and an agile wicket keeper. With the result he put lots of effort into bringing the team back to rails and that forced him to play with a recurring injury. The young team was in dire need of its skipper and he delivered with a tournament winning performance.

C K Subramaniam, Mumbai