{"id":248495,"date":"2023-06-17T20:24:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-17T14:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=248495"},"modified":"2023-06-17T20:24:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-17T14:54:30","slug":"railway-safety-listen-to-the-voices-from-below","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/railway-safety-listen-to-the-voices-from-below\/","title":{"rendered":"Railway safety \u2014 listen to the voices from below"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source-<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cRailway safety \u2014 listen to the voices from below\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 17th June 2023.<\/p>\n

Syllabus:<\/strong> GS3- Infrastructure<\/p>\n

Relevance-<\/strong> Issues related to railway safety<\/p>\n

News- <\/strong>The triple train collision near Balasore in Odisha on June 2 led to the tragic loss of over 280 lives.<\/p>\n

What is the record of railways on safety in recent times?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Statistics show that over the last two decades, the number of derailments<\/strong> has drastically declined from around 350 per year around the turn of the millennium, to 22 in 2021-22. This is a commendable achievement<\/strong> by any standards.<\/p>\n

This has been achieved despite a nearly threefold increase in freight loading<\/strong> and more than a doubling of passenger traffic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What is one aspect of railway safety that has not received sufficient attention?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This concerns the flow of information <\/strong>regarding unsafe practices or situations <\/strong>on a real-time basis. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike many other organisations, the activities of the Railways are spread geographically <\/strong>over a wide area.<\/p>\n

It involves a multiplicity of departments<\/strong>. They need to work in close coordination on a real-time basis<\/strong> to ensure the smooth and safe running of trains.<\/p>\n

In order to ensure uniformity<\/strong> in the compliance of rules and regulations and safety<\/strong>, a large number of codes and manual<\/strong>s have been evolved for different departments to standardise the procedures.<\/p>\n

Periodic field inspections<\/strong> are done by authorities at various levels. It ensures compliance with laid-down procedures and standards of workmanship. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Every department has evolved a set of schedules<\/strong> for the inspection of various work centres and operational procedures<\/strong> for every level of the management. This system suffers from a few drawbacks.<\/p>\n

The \u201ctop-down\u201d approach<\/strong> places the onus of detecting deviations on the higher authorities. They look down on the lower staff with suspicion and distrust. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It encourages window dressing<\/strong> and sweeping of problems under the carpet. There is a lack of transparency and frankness<\/strong> in such a situation.<\/p>\n

This can be counterproductive<\/strong> in matters that concern railway safety. Many accidents are the culmination of unsafe practices or deviations from the norm<\/strong> over a period of time.<\/p>\n

How real empowerment of lower staff can be done and how it is useful?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A system called Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS)<\/strong> was developed by one of the British universities nearly three decades ago.<\/p>\n

This encourages the lower staff to point out deviations<\/strong> on a real-time basis<\/strong>, and the expression of frank view<\/strong>. This is an example of real empowerment of staff. The introduction of a similar reporting system on the Indian Railways is necessary.<\/p>\n

The success and effectiveness <\/strong>of a CIRAS-like reporting system depends not only on the physical infrastructure<\/strong>. A total change in the mindset<\/strong> of the management, from the highest to the lower levels is required.<\/p>\n

There must be an attitudinal change from the conventional approach of fault-finding and punishment <\/strong>to a shared commitment <\/strong>to ensure safety at all levels. The aim should be to correct, not punish.<\/p>\n

What are other reforms needed for the railway?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is a need for serious rethink on the recently introduced Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS)<\/strong> scheme. It can destroy loyalty and sense of \u201cownership\u201d<\/strong> towards a particular department amongst the management cadre.<\/p>\n

It is perhaps also time to revert to the earlier system of having a full-time Cabinet Minister<\/strong> for the Railways. There is a need for undivided attention at the highest policy-making level.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source- The post is based on the article \u201cRailway safety \u2014 listen to the voices from below\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 17th June 2023. Syllabus: GS3- Infrastructure Relevance- Issues related to railway safety News- The triple train collision near Balasore in Odisha on June 2 led to the tragic loss of over 280 lives.… Continue reading Railway safety \u2014 listen to the voices from below<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10498],"class_list":["post-248495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":3,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698288190},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}