Apropos Vinayak Chatterjee’s article “Buffalo on the tracks” (July 18), I have two comments to make. First, the Indian Railways should be converted into a government corporation like Bharat Sanchar Nigam. This would imply that the railways would have to submit financial reports that the public can assess. This new railway corporation would also have to furnish a corporate governance report. In this way, corporatisation can go a long way in improving the performance of the railways. Second, it must be understood that preventing accidents is important and central to safety work. This aspect should be given the necessary attention it deserves.
Of course, operational safety ultimately depends on a lot of factors but it is important for railways employees to raise the bar and work hard towards bringing down the number of accidents. For this, the authorities concerned must not wait for an accident to happen to start focusing on safety measures.
Narendra M Apte, Pune
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