AND HERE WE ARE TALKING OF RUNNING A BULLET TRAIN

Railway Board

East Central Railway

Uttar Pradesh

Darbhanga Express

Darbhanga-Lokmanya Tilak Terminal Express

safety

Indian railways

member RL Gupta wrote to chief mechanical engineer,, about the problem but officials deny the incident.Those running our railways have learnt absolutely no lessons from the recent spate of accidents, including a derailment inlast month in which 23 people lost their lives. On Tuesday, the Mumbai-bound, carrying more than 2,000 passengers, was allowed to carry on for more than 350 kms (till Varanasi) despite the fact that brakes were not functioning in 19 of its 21 coaches.A letter by a member of the Railway Board flagged the train’s serious security lapse, but two railway CPROs have denied such a thing ever happened.According to a letter written to the chief mechanical engineer, East Central Railway, Hajipur, by RL Gupta, an additional member of railway board (mechanical engineering), on September 13, 19 coaches out of 21 in the Mumbai-bound Darbhanga-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express had no power in their brakes. The letter stated that this was a very serious issue, which could have resulted in a serious mishap. The train had been given secondary maintenance at Darbhanga.However, Rajesh Kumar, chief PRO, North Central Railway, had an entirely different story. “I am not aware of any letter from the railway board. As per my knowledge, after the 11062departed from Darbhanga, the loco pilot experienced poor brake power en route. As soon as the problem was reported, a technical expert examined the locomotive at Sonpur station, but found nothing unusual. In order to be sure, he accompanied the train up to Chhapra. During the run it was noticed that the brake power of the train was somewhat less, so at Chhapra station, technical experts thoroughly examined the entire train,” Kumar said.“There, the problem which was minor, was detected and rectified by the experts. The train was again examined at Varanasi, which has much better maintenance facilities. Upon complete satisfaction of the technical experts, the train was permitted to proceed. The train was being hauled by a state-of-the-art WDP4 locomotive, which has a superior braking system. This train has LHB coaches fitted with disc brakes and designed to be failproof. Hence, there was no compromise on theof the train. Meanwhile, as per the direction of the Railway Board, an inquiry is being carried out to find out the reasons for the occurrence of such an incident.”Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO, Central Railway, also maintained there was no safety issue. “The rake of the train developed some problem at Kalyan, which was not related to safety. However, we take even the slightest issue with utmost seriousness. After attending to the issue at Kalyan, the train left for its onward journey,” Udasi said.According to the sources, primary maintenance of the train is done by the CR in Mumbai. After maintenance, when the train reached LTT and was to depart on Thursday, it again stopped at Kalyan due to the technical glitch in its braking system.“This incident is indicative of an urgent need for reinvigorating safety standard in the railways. Emphasis should be laid on proper and effective counselling of staff connected with train operations,” said former chairman of the Railway Board, Vivek Sahai.“During my 38-year service in the railways, such of case did not happen. It is a serious safety hazard,” said Subodh Jain, former CR top boss and a retired member of the railway engineering board.“It is a case of callous negligence. I cannot believe how, in the wake of recent incidents, a train can be allowed to move without brake power in 19 out of 21 coaches?” Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) member Subhash Gupta told Mirror. “Is this the new safety mantra of the? I don’t know how many more lives we will lose before we decide what safety is.”