There were trains in India before 1853,
even commercial. But officially, the birthday of the railways is 16
April 1853, with that passenger train from Bori Bunder to Thane,
carrying 400 invited VIP passengers. Years ago, economic historians of
the Marxist variety used to debate the relevance of the Asiatic mode of
production for India. In that context, there is a familiar Karl Marx
quote from “The Future Results of British Rule in India”.
“The railway-system will therefore
become, in India, truly the forerunner of modern industry.” People will
probably not readily recall when this essay was first published. Marx
wrote it on 22 July 1853 and published it on 8 August 1853. Karl Marx
must have known of the Bori Bunder to Thane train and reacted to the
news. It is 166 years from 1853 to 2019. Most people probably don’t know
that in recent years, the track record of Indian Railways (IR) on
safety has been remarkably good.
This becomes evident if one normalises
and divides absolute numbers by something like total passengers, or
total kilometres travelled by trains. Irrespective of the indicator
used, IR’s performance is superior to that of many so-called advanced
countries. That record may be good, but 2019-20 was exceptional. For the
first time in 166 years, there have been no deaths to passengers from
consequential railway accidents. As a reaction, there has been
skepticism and criticism.
What about those who die on Mumbai local
trains? What about 20-year-old Dilshat Khan? In December 2019, near
Kalyan station, he decided to perform a stunt on the footboard of a
local train. He crashed into a pole and died. What about 19-year-old
Abzad and 22-year-old Mohammed Matti? In September 2019, weren’t they
killed near Bengaluru, trying to make a TikTok video on a railway track?
Weren’t they run over by a train and killed? In Delhi, in July 2019, an
Indian Army captain committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a
train.
Incidentally, as Bollywood evolved,
trains featured in Hindi films. If you think of old black-and-white
Hindi films, and not recent ones, you will recall trains figured in
films because they were convenient ways of committing suicide. They
provided that setting and no more. The NCRB (National Crime Records
Bureau) brings out a publication, “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in
India”. We have this for 2018. The 2019 version will probably be
available in December 2020. In 2018, according to NCRB, there were
24,545 deaths because of railway accidents—1,507 at railway crossings
and the remainder primarily due to people falling off trains or being
run over by them.
There were also a few instances (with
relatively fewer deaths) of derailments/collisions in UP. There may not
have been derailments/collisions in 2019-20. Unmanned level crossings
may have become manned. But what about people falling off trains or
being run over by them? One can understand skepticism about the 2019-20
numbers. But this is because one has failed to understand what the
numbers signify. Since every statement issued by IR uses the expression
“consequential railway accident”, there must be some meaning attached to
the word “consequential”.
Other than the NCRB, the Commission of
Rail Safety (CRS), under the Civil Aviation Ministry because of
historical reasons, also provides numbers on such deaths. That too is
for “consequential” and the latest numbers are for 2017-18.
“Consequential” is defined in the following way. “For the purpose of
Railway working, accident is an occurrence in the course of working of
Railway which does or may affect the safety of the Railway, its engine,
rolling stock, permanent way and works, fixed installations, passengers
or servants or which affect the safety of others or which does or may
cause delay to train or loss to the Railway.” These are railway-related
and are included if they are above a certain threshold.
We think IR’s figures are about all
accidents. No, they are only about consequential or serious accidents
and it is those that have been eliminated in 2019-20. These are also
incidents where IR has implied culpability and is responsible. To make
it clearer still, CRS states, “Cases of trespassers run over and injured
or killed through their own carelessness or of passengers injured or
killed through their own carelessness” are excluded. IR then
statistically classifies these accidents from A to R.
Take for example L2, “no tension in OHE
(overhead equipment) for more than three minutes”. This may not fit with
our usual perception of accidents, but the effect on IR can be
disastrous. Alternatively, there are also F (averted collisions), G
(breach of block rules), H (a train passing a signal at danger), J
(equipment failures), K (failure of permanent way), L (failure of
electrical equipment), M (failure of signaling and telecommunication),
Q6 (blockade to train services due to agitation).
IR accident data are for a specific
purpose and do not, and need not, reflect our passenger-based and
citizen-based perceptions of death on the tracks. It isn’t the case that
other types of deaths (Dilshat Khan, Abzad, Mohammed Matti, the Army
captain) aren’t captured by the system. They are classified as
trespassing and untoward incidents and fed into the system through the
NCRB. As I said, we will know the 2019 numbers in December 2020. The
railway crossing ones will certainly be fewer. Going by 2018, I think
numbers for falling from a train and getting run over on a track will
not be more than 20,000, perhaps lower.
Source : https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2020/sep/05/railways-accidents-and-death-on-the-tracks-2192701.html