Lack of regular inspection and maintenance of tracks and coaches are the main reason behind the rail accident which occurred recently near Roha. The general manager is issuing various statements on different days without co-coordinating with the Commissioner of Railway safety. One day, he says that he will hereafter depute two keymen to inspect the rail tracks. The next day he talks about hydrogen content and later he says that weld fracture took place.
There is lack of supervision of rail tracks. This aspect must be looked into by the experts (even drawn from other countries like Japan, for assistance) to ensure that maintenance of tracks is being carried out according to plan and as per international standards. There were reports that he was unable to ascertain when the last inspection of those tracks was being carried out. Such data must be recorded online.
Even during normal circumstances, when you try to board a long distance train, you won’t find any railway officer in uniform standing on the concerned platform to guide the passengers prior to the train’s departure. The TTE’s enter inside the coach much later in the midst of the journey. Robbery incidents occur inside train coaches and Kanpur is notorious in such matters. During night time when train halts at a station, the attendant is mostly missing from the coaches leaving the entrance doors free.
The Railway Ministry has been allotted to a minister belonging to the coalition partner who uses it for doling out favours to their constituencies. The ministry has been milked by such ministers for their selfish interests and hence it has become inefficient. One of the high ranking officers was found offering money to the relative of the previous railway minister but nobody knows whether action was taken against them or not? When corruption is prevalent at senior levels in railways, safety is bound to be affected and the staff will remain slack.
Indian Railways is a mammoth organisation and performing reasonably good job. However, there is lack of Railways university to cater to all aspects involving such a massive network. The new government must appoint a qualified person as the Minister of Railways. We have seen too much drama between Dinesh Trivedi and Mukul Roy to satisfy the tantrums of Mamata Banerjee. You cannot neglect the biggest organization of the country and leave it in the hands of bargainers. If the BJP comes to power, once again there may be attempt by Ram Vilas Paswan to wrest this ministry which must be resisted.