Railways to seek Rs 1 lakh cr for special safety fund to curb accidents

Emergency meeting called after two accidents last Saturday and at least eight derailments in past nine months of 2015

The rail ministry will seek around Rs 1 lakh crore from the finance ministry for a special railway safety fund to implement several measures aimed at sprucing up safety performance and checking the spate of recent train accidents which have claimed several lives.

"Railways is finalising a safety plan at an estimated cost of about Rs 1 lakh crore. We are preparing a comprehensive plan, which includes elimination of all level crossings, strengthening of the track and bridges among others," Railway Board Chairman A K Mital said, adding Finance Ministry will be approached for the special safety fund to upgrade the safety infrastructure in rail network.

He was speaking to media along with other railway board members after a special emergency meeting called by rail minister Suresh Prabhu with the General managers of all the 17 railway zones across the country. The meeting focused on framing the contours of the zero action mission announced by Prabhu.

The meeting comes after two train accidents within a day last Saturday and at least eight derailments in the past nine months of 2015. Two British women had died and five other passengers injured when the Kalka Shimla train derailed at Kalka station in Haryana on Saturday. In another accident the same day two passengers died and eight others were injured after nine coaches of the Duronto Express going from Secunderabad to Mumbai derailed in Karnataka.

In the meeting, Prabhu is understood to have expressed concern over the derailments in the recent past and asked the GMs to take adequate measures to conduct safety audits at all levels. He asked for following up of the action taken on the audit reports and their regular monitoring. “We need to pull up our socks. No excuses for lapses are acceptable. The issue of safety is non-negotiable and any laxity on this front is unacceptable,” Prabhu said during the meeting with the GMs.

Earlier this month, at least 42 people were injured after six coaches of the Chennai-Mangalore Express derailed in Tiruchi near Poovanaur district in Tamil Nadu. Also, two trains had derailed within minutes at the same spot near Harda in Madhya Pradesh in August claiming 29 lives. The year 2015 has so far seen eight train accidents due to derailments reportedly involving loss of nearly 190 lives along with hundreds others injured.