TERRIBLE TRAIN OF ACCIDENTS

TERRIBLE TRAIN OF ACCIDENTS


At least 67 persons were killed and 121 injured when the new Cooch Behar sealdah uttarbanga express rammed the Vananchal express at Sainthia station (West Bengal) in the early hours of Monday 19th July 2010.

The engine of the Uttar banga Express and parcel van and two general compartments of the vanachal express were completely destroyed. The drivers of the Uttar banga Express and the guard of the Vananchal Express were among those killed.

Railway minister mamta Banerjee visited the accident site and announced an exgratia of Rs 5 lakh to the relatives of those killed and a job to one from each bereaved family.

Fourteen railway accidents in ten months, the second in west Bengal in two months. This time the Railways cannot blame the Maoists.

The stream of accidents in recent months is a stark reminder that the Indian Railways need to do substantially more to ensure safety and security on the tracks. Whether it was a signal failure or a human error this time, the Railway administration must urgently address the key issues- the modernisation of safety equipment, the maintenance of track and signals, the failure of top management to put in place state of the- art fail- safe mechanism, and the retraining and fitness of the staff, especially drivers, their assistants, guards, and those at the stations to prevent the recurrence of such mishaps.

Chief Minister of the West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee expressed his deep sorrow over the deaths in the train accident. The chief minister underlined the need for a serious look in to matters related to proper maintenance and ensuring safety of passengers by the authorities concerned.

Prof. John Kurakar