East Central Zone of the Indian Railways, where 11 coaches of the Seemanchal Express (Jogbani-Anand Vihar) derailed on Sunday, is notorious for accidents.

In a safety review in December, it emerged as the second-worst zone (of the total 18) in terms of consequential train accidents followed by the Northern Railway. It recorded five such incidents between April 1, 2018 and December 15, 2018. Northern Railway reported eight such incidents during the period. The total number stood at 45.

The Indian Railways has adopted a “Zero Accident” policy, and the number of passengers killed in various railway accidents was lowest in 2017-18 (57). But deaths caused by derailments make experts worried. The Railways categorises accidents the following categories: collision, derailment, mishaps at manned level crossings, mishaps at unmanned level crossings and fire.

“Bulk of railways’ money goes to staff cost and fuel...there is little left for the maintenance. Derailment of a passenger train is a major embarrassment for the railways, and they must do track maintenance on priority. The zone where the accident has taken used to be called the sleeping division, as efforts to improve tracks were less. This accident is a symptom that tracks and coaching maintenance are faulty and need to be fixed,” said Sri Prakash, who retired as member (traffic) of the Indian Railways in 2009.

The East Central Railway comprises Dhanbad, Mughal Sarai, Samastipur and Danapur divisions. Of the 54 consequential train accidents in 2017 (between April 1 and December 15), five were reported from ECR.

According to the railways, highest-ever rail renewal of 4,405 km was carried out in 2017-18 and 5,000 km has been planned in 2018-19. Railway is also conducting the trial of Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System for detection of rail/weld breakage. The system will be utilised for timely detection of rail/weld fractures.

First Published: Feb 04, 2019 01:55 IST