New Delhi, June 29: In the wake of the accident that claimed over 50 lives in the first-ever disaster on the new Konkan route, the railways have decided to incorporate the vulnerabilities of the Konkan ranges into the anti-collision techniques for the country's entire rail network. A proposal for bringing in foreign technical experts in the wake of the Konkan railway accident to study fool-proof measures on the 750 km long rail network was made but it did not find favour with the administrators.
"We are undertaking a survey for installing anti-collision device in 10,000 kms of the railway network which will more or less cover the entire rail network," Railway Minister Nitish Kumar said. He said following the Konkan railway disaster, the impact of natural disasters like landslides would also be taken into account while installing this accident-proof system.
Fifty passengers were killed and scores injured when four bogies of Karwar-Mumbai holiday special derailed just in front of a tunnel on the Konkan railway following a landslide last Sunday night. Kumar said the safety system has undergone trials on the Jallandhar-Amritsar section of the northern railway and has been found technically suitable. Among other things, the anti-collision device is expected to prevent head-on collisions.
Following the Sunday accident, Kumar said, "We made a categorical offer to the Konkan rail authorities that the government had no hesitation in bringing in experts from other countries if they so desired. But they said there was no need and they will be able to handle it themselves."
On the accident, he said there was a geo-technical committee that had identified the vulnerable areas along the Konkan network but unfortunately the area where the landslide occurred was not among the identified locations.
Kumar said though an improvement in safety standards has led to a fall in the number of accidents, the railways are trying to further improve maintenance practices and intensify training of staff. Bureau Report