The Hirakand Express derailed in Andhra Pradesh earlier this year, killing 40, while the Rajendranagar-Patna Express incident caused the death of almost 150 people last year. While Mohammad Jamshed, member of the Traffic Railway Board last January said that the instances of accidents caused by railways have reduced by up to 20 per cent in India, why is it that large scale accidents still take place in India. To counter this question, it appears like Railway will be deploying drones or unmanned aerial vehicles to capture visuals of accident sites in order to collect evidence.
According to a report published by The Hindu, the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabu suggested this as a part of series of initiatives for the safety of train operations. Since the evidence is collected much later after the accident takes place, this causes everyone involved to indulge in the blame game. This will allow the authorities to “pinpoint” the cause of failure or accident.
Like mentioned previously, railway accidents are increasing in number. “The Railways reported 237 accidents in the last two years which claimed the lives of 158 people and left 450 injured. A majority of the accidents were derailments and mishaps at level crossings. Of the 106 train accidents in 2015-16, 92% were due to human error, of which 54% was due to failure of railway staff,” the report read.
