Transcript International Railway Safety Conference 2005

International Railway Safety Conference 2007
Goa, India
INVESTMENT PLANNING
TO IMPROVE SAFETY ON
INDIAN RAILWAYS
Presentation by M.C.Murali,
Chief Safety Officer, Southern Railway,
Indian Railways
Scheme of Presentation
• Overview of Indian Railways
• Focus on Safety and the Special Railway
Safety Fund (SRSF)
• Accident and Equipment failure statistics to
evaluate the impact of SRSF and identify
further areas which need priority attention
• Recommendations for future investments
Indian Railways - an Overview
• Route Length: > 63,300 route kms
– Broad, Metre and Narrow gauges
– 28% of routes Electrified
• Freight Traffic: > 700 million tonnes per year
• Passenger Traffic: > 18 million passengers
per day
• Employees: 1.5 million
• Under the control of a single administration
• Government owned and yearly budget
passed by the Parliament
Focus on Railway Safety
• Government have constituted Special Committees periodically
to address the railway safety concerns and make
recommendations. The latest of such committees called
Railway Safety Review Committee (Justice Khanna
Committee) made two important recommendations in 1999:
- Sanction of a one-time non-lapsable grant for replacement
of over-aged assets
- Indian Railways to have a long term Corporate Safety Plan
• The first item led to the Sanction of a “Special Railway Safety
Fund” (SRSF) of Rs. 170 Billion (US $ 4 Billion)
• In pursuance of the second item a Corporate Safety Plan for
the ten year period 2003-2013 was formulated
Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF)
Item of Work
Safety
Enhancem
ent
% of
Amount
Track renewal
37.4%
Bridge replacement
11.7%
Rolling Stock
replacements
20.5%
Signalling Equipment
20.4%
Safety Enhancement
works
6.8%
Signal
Track
Rolling
Stock
Bridges
Accident Statistics
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
Total
98-99
97-98
96-97
95-96
94-95
93-94
92-93
91-92
90-91
Trend of Total Number of Accidents and
Derailments
Derailments
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Derailments and LC Accidents as a
Percentage of Total number of Accidents
Derailments
LC Accidents
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
98-99
97-98
96-97
95-96
94-95
93-94
92-93
91-92
90-91
0
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
98-99
97-98
96-97
95-96
94-95
93-94
92-93
91-92
90-91
Trend of Accidents at Level Crossings
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Average number of Casualties and
Damages per Accident (2005-06)
Collision
LC Accidents
Fire Accidents
Miscellaneous
Derailment
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Persons killed and injured
per Accident
Cost of Damages in
millions Rs. per Accident
Trend of Selected Equipment Failures
Rail failures
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
98-99
97-98
Rail Failures: Have
shown distinct
reduction after the
track renewal works
taken up under SRSF
Trend of Selected Equipment Failures
Poor brake power
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
98-99
97-98
Poor brake power:
Has come down to
negligible levels but
no correlation to
inputs from SRSF
Trend of Selected Equipment Failures
Train parting
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
98-99
97-98
Train Parting:
Continues to remain
high. Not much
inputs from SRSF
Trend of Selected Equipment Failures
Coach detachments
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
98-99
97-98
Coach Detachments:
Have come down
steadily, but inputs
from SRSF were
minimal
Trend of Selected Equipment Failures
Signal failures
06-07
05-06
04-05
03-04
02-03
01-02
00-01
99-00
98-99
97-98
Signal Failures:
Continues to remain
high, in spite of
significant inputs from
SRSF
Recommendations – Level Crossings
• As a long-term measure, unprotected
level crossings should be eliminated
either by providing barriers or grade
separators. Cost-effective limited-use
subways could help to replace a large
number of minor LCs
• In the interim period, investments in
educating road users through mass
media and direct contact programmes
can help
• Train approach warnings may help to a
limited extent if a cost effective design
can be evolved
Recommendations – Collisions
• Auxiliary warning system (AWS) has been in
operation on some suburban sections
• Trials are being conducted with a GPS-based
Anti-Collision Device (ACD) developed by
Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd
• Train protection system (ETCS-Level-1) is also
under installation in a few selected routes
• A reliable and effective device to reduce
dependence on drivers is essentially required
Recommendations – Asset Reliability
• Reliability of signalling equipments needs to be
improved on priority since many accidents occur
during such failures
• Equipments to detect rail flaws in a faster
manner like Self-Propelled Ultrasonic Rail
Testing (SPURT) cars
• Equipments to facilitate condition monitoring and
maintenance to make a shift from the current
time-based maintenance system
Recommendations – Coaching Stock
• Use of materials that prevent spread of
fire and minimise emission of toxic
fumes in case of fire.
• Tight-lock couplers and interior design to
minimise injuries in case of accidents
• Adopt new designs to prevent coach
capsizing in case of derailments
• Wayside detectors for hot boxes and
infringing parts
Recommendations – Tank Wagons
• Four-wheeled tank wagons have been
identified as accident prone because of
their rigidity and RSRC had
recommended their withdrawal, but they
are still in operation. More than the
freight train derailments caused by them,
the infringements caused to adjacent
tracks could be really dangerous
• Investments to replace these wagons will
need to be provided on priority
Recommendations – Natural
Calamities
• Landslips, Boulder-falling, Tracks getting
submerged during rains, Tracks/bridges
washed off by flash floods, Trees falling and
Cyclones are some of the vulnerabilities
caused due to natural causes.
• The present mechanism to guard against such
threats is mostly track patrolling by Railway
staff
• Investments to prevent such occurrences
wherever feasible or for installing reliable
monitoring systems are considered essential
Recommendations – Training
• Considering the fact that many of the accidents
are attributed to human failure and many of the
safety enhancement works will centre around
new technologies and equipments, investment in
training of staff needs to be made
• Loco simulators have been introduced recently
under SRSF for training loco drivers. This could
be extended further
• Improved methods for training and more of
simulation model training schemes need to be
introduced
Conclusion
• Depreciation Reserve Fund should be
systematically managed to ensure timely
asset replacement and this activity should
not be treated as an investment to improve
safety
• Investments for Safety improvement
should be made to eliminate vulnerabilities
and to minimise damages even in case of
accidents occurring