There has been no loss of life due to train accidents in the last 2 years. The Railways has put in place sufficient safety measures
Bengaluru: In what comes as heartening, Railways minister Piyush Goyal has informed that there has been no death due to railway-related accidents, in the last two years – March 2019 to March 2021.
It is pertinent to note that the Railways has taken sufficient safety measures to ensure no loss of life. Here are a few safety measures:
1. Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) has been introduced in 2017-18 for replacement/renewal/upgradation of critical safety assets, with a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore for five years, having annual outlay of ₹20,000 crore.
2. Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems with centralized operation of points and signals have been provided at 6138 stations up to 31.01.2021 to eliminate accident due to human failure.
3. Block Proving Axle Counter (BPAC) to ensure complete arrival of train without manual intervention before granting line clear to the next train have been provided on 5,788 block sections up to 31.01.2021.
4. Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System to prevent Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD) have been provided at 595 Route Km.
5. Track Circuiting of stations to enhance safety for verification of track occupancy by electrical means instead of human element has been provided at 6180 stations as on 31.01.2021.
6. Interlocking of Level Crossing (LC) Gates has been provided at 11745 level Crossing Gates up to 31.01.2021 for enhancing safety at LC gates.
7. All electric locomotives are equipped with Vigilance Control Devices (VCD) to ensure alertness of Loco Pilots.
8. Simulator based training is imparted for improving the driving skills and the reaction time of Loco Pilots.
9. Regular special drives are launched to check the alertness of Loco Pilots and other safety parameters.
10. Provision of Retro-reflective sigma boards is done on the mast which is located two OHE masts prior to the signals in electrified territories to warn the crew about signal ahead when visibility is low due to foggy weather.
11. Provision of a GPS based Fog Pass device has been made for locomotive pilots in fog affected areas which enables loco pilot to know the exact distance of the approaching landmarks like signals, level crossing gates etc.
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