Kanpur Tragedy: In Past 6 Years, Railway Mishaps Claimed 620 Lives

Of the 803 Indian railways accidents between 2009-10 and 2014-15, 373 were due to derailment.

Rescue officials on the spot where 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna Express derailed, killing over 120 people, in Kanpur Dehat on Sunday, 20 November 2016. (Photo: PTI)

Each time there is a train accident, the issue of safety in Indian Railways comes to the fore. The recent train accident in Uttar Pradesh has again triggered a debate on safety.

In the six-year period between 2009-10 and 2014-15, there were a total of 803 accidents in Indian Railways killing 620 people and injuring 1855 people. Over 47 percent of these accidents were due to derailment of trains.

Number and Type of Accidents

By far, the highest number of accidents are because of derailments and accidents at level crossings. Nine out of ten railway accidents during 2009-10 and 2014-15 have been due to derailments and accidents at level crossings. The other type of accidents includes collisions, etc. But their number is relatively much lower.

Train Accidents per Million Kilometers Run

The trains of the Indian Railways are clocking more passenger kilometres each year. From 2.08 lakh million kilometres in 1980-81, the number of passenger kilometres reached 11.47 lakh million kilometres in 2014-15.

Train accidents per million kilometres run is an important parameter to understand the occurrence of accidents and if there has been any improvement over the years.

This parameter has continuously decreased from 2009-10 to 2013-14. It again increased in 2014-15. From 0.17 in 2009-10, it has come down to 0.10 in 2013-14, a reduction of over 40 percent in five years. But it again increased to 0.11 in 2014-15.

Number of Casualties

Though the number of accidents in 2009-10 was more than the number of accidents in 2010-11, 235 were killed in 2010-11 compared to only 67 in 2009-10.

The accidents in 2010-11 were more fatal compared to the other years. The number of those killed has been on the decline since 2010-11, only to increase in 2014-15.

Casualties per Million Passengers Carried

From 3,613 million passengers in 1980-81, the number of originating passengers reached 8,224 million in 2014-15. Except for 2010-11, this parameter was more or less constant at 0.04.

In 2010-11, it rose to 0.08 owing to a high number of casualties. While it decreased to 0.02 in 2013-14, it increased to 0.05 in 2014-15 because of a higher casualty figure.

Cause of Accidents

There have been various causes for train accidents ranging from human failure to equipment failure to sabotage etc.

In the six-year period between 2009-10 and 2014-15, human failure has caused more than 86 percent of the total accidents. Out of this, 41 percent accidents were caused due to the failure of railway staff and the rest due to the failure of others. Equipment failure caused only 2.2 percent of the accidents.

(This article was originally published in Factly)