Frequent occurrence of "fatal" railways, India, the earliest country in Asia to have trains | Train | Asia

Author: Su Kui

On the evening of June 2nd local time, a multiple train collision occurred in India, causing several carriages to derail. According to the latest official data from India, the accident has resulted in at least 288 deaths and nearly 900 injuries. In terms of casualties, this is the most serious train collision in India this century.

India was the first country in Asia to have trains, and its railway mileage once accounted for more than half of the total railway mileage of Asian, African, and Latin American countries. However, in recent years, Indian railways have repeatedly attracted international attention due to major accidents.

According to India's public report, there were a total of 2017 railway accidents from 2017 to 2021, with 1392 derailment accidents and 101500 deaths from railway accidents.

How powerful was India's railways in the past? Why are accidents happening frequently now?

1

Deadly switch

According to BBC accident analysis, this major railway accident occurred at the Bahanaga Bazar station in the Balasol region of the state of Orissa in eastern India. The station is about 270 kilometers away from the central city of Kolkata in eastern India. The entire accident involved four trains, including two freight trains and two passenger trains.

This station has four tracks, two main tracks, and two escape lines. There is one freight train parked on each of the two escape lines, and one passenger express coming from each of the two main lines. If there are no accidents, the four trains will each follow their respective paths without any conflict.

A freight train filled with iron ore entered the yield line through the main line and stopped, but the switch did not recover. At around 6:55 pm, a southbound express train following from West Bengal to the southern city of Chennai collided with an iron ore truck parked at a yield line at a speed of 128 kilometers per hour, causing 12 carriages to derail.

Even worse, at this moment, another northbound express train heading towards Kolkata, West Bengal, arrived on the main track in the other direction, reaching a speed of 126 kilometers per hour. The derailed train heading south towards Chennai collided with the northbound train heading north towards Kolkata, causing three carriages of the latter to derail. The derailed carriages of the train heading towards Kolkata also collided with another freight train on the yield line.

That is to say, this accident was actually a four car collision, rather than the three car collision reported by most media.

Under normal circumstances, the turnout should automatically return to the main line after the train enters the avoidance line from the main line, keeping the main line in a passable state. But after the iron ore train entered the avoidance line from the main line and parked, the switch did not return to its original position, and the signal display board in the station control room also showed this problem - the red light flickered for a few seconds, but the on duty dispatcher did not notice this major problem. Strangely, after that, the system displayed normal again, and all the information systems did not indicate any abnormalities to the bus driver, so the tragedy happened.

The cause of the accident is simple: the turnout control system was not linked to the station signal. According to statistics, from 2017 to 2021, 261 derailment accidents of Indian trains were caused by switch issues, and there were also 27 derailment accidents caused by signal and communication system errors.

If the electronic locking system of the railway is working properly, it should detect freight trains parked on the avoidance line. After discovering that the trains in the section have not been cleared, the signal can prevent the trains from entering the track section. After the turnout returns to its normal position, the signal can allow the trains to enter the track section, and accidents will not occur; If the station dispatcher discovers signal abnormalities in the first place, accidents will not occur; If the emergency response is appropriate after the first collision, the dispatch personnel will notify the driver of the northbound train heading towards Kolkata at the fastest speed. The second collision may be avoided, at least by slowing down to reduce losses.

But none of this "if" happened, the checkpoints were heavily missed, a fatal switch, and the most tragic Indian railway accident since the new century happened like this.

2

The Mystery of Safety

On the morning of June 5th, just three days after the multi car collision at the Bahanagabaza station, a private railway company in the state of Orissa experienced a freight train derailment on its narrow gauge railway. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

On the 7th, another train accident occurred in the state of Orissa: due to the impact of a storm, a train parked on the tracks moved, and six workers who were hiding under the train from adverse weather were crushed to death, while two others were injured. The preliminary investigation by the Indian authorities shows that the train's movement was due to someone releasing the braking device.

What is the safety situation of Indian railways, with so many train accidents occurring in just the state of Orissa in a short period of time?

In February 2016, the Indian Ministry of Railways boldly proposed the safety goal of "zero accidents" for the first time in its budget, and listed a series of measures, including: eliminating all unmanned level crossings within 3-4 years; Install train collision prevention systems throughout the entire route within 3 years; Innovate fiscal mechanisms to curb accidents, establish a national railway safety fund, and invest 1 trillion rupees within 5 years to improve safety, which is approximately 20 billion yuan per year.

How is the implementation progress? According to the 2021 report from the Indian railway department, actual investment from 2017 to 2019 was approximately RMB 16 billion, RMB 18 billion, and RMB 15 billion respectively, with an overall funding implementation rate of only 81%.

The Indian audit department released an audit report in 2022, stating that the Indian railway department has not used safety funds in accordance with regulations for four consecutive years, with an amount of nearly RMB 18 billion, accounting for about 27% of the total funds. Even for investment in security, approximately 1.2 billion yuan has been spent on non priority projects.

In addition, the main reason for the frequent derailment of Indian railways is poor track maintenance, but for the busiest western railway network in India, the safety fund only invests 3% in this area. Simply put, the audit department believes that railway safety funds are already struggling, but the railway department has not used the money on the cutting edge, but rather for some fancy image projects, and the effect can be imagined.

In March 2020, Indian media reported on the achievements of the "zero accident" goal three years later. Unmanned level crossings on the Indian wide gauge railway have been eliminated, which means there are still 948 standard gauge and narrow gauge railways that have not been eliminated. The train collision avoidance system has only completed 250 kilometers, which is behind the total railway track length of 126366 kilometers. According to Indian media reports, the accident section in the state of Orissa did not have the installation of "Kawachi" - a domestically produced collision avoidance system for trains in India.

After the accident, faced with criticism, a spokesperson for the Indian railway department argued that despite the accident, the safety record of Indian railways has been improving, especially with the annual number of passenger deaths dropping from 118 in 2014 to 0 in 2019, which can be said to be a huge improvement.

Is this really the case?

If the data provided by Indian Railways themselves cannot be convincing, third-party reports may be more accurate. According to the special audit report on train derailment released by the Indian auditing department in 2022, there were a total of 2017 railway accidents between 2017 and 2021, of which 1392 derailment accidents occurred, accounting for 69% of the accident causes. It is worth noting that 74% of derailment accidents are related to the signal and communication departments.

The data disclosed by the National Bureau of Criminal Records of India is even more shocking. Between 2017 and 2021, the number of deaths from railway accidents reached 101500, and in addition, 7795 people died in railway level crossing accidents, totaling over 110000 deaths. It is worth noting that falling from a train or colliding with a train on the track is the main cause of death in railway traffic accidents, accounting for 67%.

Maharastra, where Mumbai is the largest city in India, has the highest number of railway fatalities, accounting for approximately 20% of the country's total. According to data from the Mumbai Railway Police Department in India, since 2007, the average annual death toll in railway traffic accidents in Mumbai has exceeded 3200 people.

3

Railway Glory

After the Tang and Song dynasties, the transportation between China and India gradually became sparse. Since modern times, the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian have had more trade exchanges with India, but those like Faxian and Xuanzang who specifically traveled to India and wrote travelogues for circulation are extremely rare. In 1876, the Sino British Treaty of Yantai was signed, in which the "Special Article for Further Discussion" stipulated that Britain could send a road exploration team from Beijing to Xizang through Gansu, Qinghai or Sichuan, or from India to Tibet.

Many officials in the Qing Dynasty worried that the British took this opportunity to open up the road from India to Xizang via Darjeeling, interfere in Xizang's defense, and even pose a threat to the mainland. In the fourth year of the Guangxu reign, Ding Baozhen, the then Governor General of Sichuan, proposed that the Prime Minister's Office responsible for diplomacy send personnel to India for inspection, "to observe the situation, draw maps, and use them for verification", which means collecting various types of intelligence information such as politics, military, geography, and hydrology for emergency needs.

In 1879, a group led by Huang Yancai, a tribute student from Jiangxi, was sent to India. After a 9-month journey, they arrived in India through Sichuan, Yunnan, and Myanmar. After arriving in India, Huang Zhicai first praised the convenience of Indian trains. He wrote, "In the past, it was suspected that the cost of train and railway work was huge, but now it is easy to do it." "People sitting in it do not have any degree of disorder, no pain from bumps, and no risk of explosion. Usually, merchants are easy to circulate, and there is no delay in recruitment. Recently, all the countries in Taixi have been flourishing day by day, and this is an urgent task." "The most convenient way is for train drivers to travel thousands of miles a day, and famous areas and scenic spots are hundreds of miles away. Traveling by public opinion, one can travel in the morning and return in the evening.".

Travelers often have a natural affinity and sensitivity towards transportation. In their subsequent travels to India, Huang Zhicai took trains multiple times to reach places such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. It is also repeatedly mentioned in travelogues that there are "four major railway hubs" in the state where Bangalore is located, and "railway trains also run through Dhaka, Bangladesh.".

This is the first time since the Tang and Song dynasties that a Chinese person has written a clear account of their travels to India. Under Huang Yancai's pen, the entire India seems to have a clear political system, orderly society, and developed industries. In today's view, this is not the reality of Indian society at that time, but his disappointment with the corruption and backwardness of the Qing Dynasty and his longing for beautiful things. But the train was indeed his tangible experience, after all, the transportation of the Qing Dynasty at that time was not much different from 2000 years ago.

Huang Maocai was full of admiration for the Indian railway, and the railway was indeed a source of pride for India.

India was the earliest country in Asia to have railways. On April 16, 1853, Mumbai had its first railway capable of carrying passengers - from Bonn to Tana. It was almost 20 years later that Japan built its first railway - the Keihin Railway. It was not until two years after the opening of the Japanese railway that the Qing government first mentioned the construction of railways.

In 1874, Li Hongzhang submitted a report to the Qing court titled "Discussions on Coastal Defense", stating that "with inland trains and railways, troops stationed nearby, and the sound of police and reinforcements, the commander should not have caused trouble if he could travel hundreds of miles a day." However, it was not until 1889, after more than 20 years of debate, especially after the failure of the Sino French battlefield, that the highest ruler of the Qing Dynasty finally issued an edict that year: "This matter is a strategy for self-improvement, and it must be coordinated with the overall situation of the world. The original report of the naval yamen was intended to expand the atmosphere and promote it in a sequential manner... However, the hope was beneficial to the country, not harmful to the people, and a crucial strategy was determined, which could be resolutely implemented." There is no need to build a house or plan a path.

At this time, it has been 36 years since India's first railway was opened to carry passengers. That is to say, when Huang Maocai inspected India in 1879, the construction of railways was still a taboo topic in China. It is gratifying that when building railways became a national policy, Huang Maocai was still alive and passed away the following year.

The first railway in India was only 34 kilometers long and transported 500000 passengers in its first year of operation. It is estimated that by 1870, India's railway mileage accounted for 55% of the total railway mileage of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. By 1875, its annual passenger volume had reached 26 million people.

When Huang Maocai visited India in 1879, the railway mileage had already reached 14000 kilometers, and the daily passenger volume had reached about 100000 people. Until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, only 9800 kilometers of railways were built. At the same time, the total length of railways in India had reached 53000 kilometers, and the national railway network had been basically completed.

In 1900, the annual passenger volume of Indian railways reached 175 million people. By the time India gained independence, the data had reached an astonishing 1 billion people, and traveling by train had become quite common.

four

Colonialism Trap

Looking back at history, colonization has brought enormous pain to the Indian people and also provided India with the infrastructure needed for modern society.

However, this foundation is not profound, as this external implanted development has not been organically integrated with traditional Indian society: India does not have a historical tradition of building a large-scale infrastructure system, nor has it developed a corresponding modern concept of mass production, industrial capabilities, talent system, etc. For example, the UK does not allow local production of locomotives and vehicles needed for railways in India, and the founding father Gandhi clearly opposes the development of railways in India, believing that railways have brought plagues, ruined people's customs, and failed to solve famine.

After the British withdrew, the national character of Indians, which was speculative, peaceful, and free spirited, was always separated from the discipline, rigor, and collectivism required by the railway industry. They were unable to control the complex system of railways well on their own, and their development slowed down. The former glory quickly became awkward, which may be the trap of colonialism. Any useful thing left by colonizers may have to pay a high price.

According to the Annual Report of Indian Railways, the railway mileage in India is 68000 kilometers, which means that after India gained independence, only 14000 kilometers of railways were added, with an average of 186 new kilometers built each year.

Even more dangerous is that 25% of India's 130000 railway bridges are over 100 years old. Due to overloading, the average maintenance time of the track can only reach 63% of the standard, and 11% of the tracks have severely aged. It should be noted that track aging or insufficient maintenance is the main culprit of railway derailment accidents in India - about 30% of derailment accident reports point the main cause of accidents to the track.

Since the beginning of the new century, India has disregarded the reality of its poor railway foundation, weak foundation, and lack of funds, and has insisted on prioritizing the development of its own quasi highways with limited funds, while neglecting the expansion of the national road network and the maintenance and improvement of existing lines.

According to India's 2020 high-speed rail plan, by 2051, six high-speed rail corridors will be built with Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi as the four major support points, with a total length of 7897 kilometers. But there is controversy within India about this, and many people believe that India needs to address the problem of overcrowding on trains rather than achieving faster and more comfortable speeds. In other words, the main contradiction of Indian railways is the difficulty and safety of traveling, rather than the slow and uncomfortable nature of traveling, and not the quality of international image.

Associate Professor Deplana Kundu of the National Institute of Urban Affairs in India told the media that railway companies are constantly launching new trains but have not taken appropriate measures to replace excessively aged vehicles. Moreover, the problem lies not only in the train itself, but more importantly, in the maintenance of the track. She said that most of the bridges and tunnels in India's railway network have exceeded their lifespan and become fragile. The railway company made a mistake in investment priorities and neglected investment in safety measures.

However, Modi's pace on the Ballatt Express continues to accelerate.

On December 30, 2022, he had just seen off his mother in his hometown and participated in the opening ceremony of the quasi high-speed train from Haola Station to New Jalbaiguri held in Kolkata via video. He promised in his speech that in the next 8 years, India will embark on a new journey of railway modernization, and the central government will invest record breaking funds for this. He even set specific numerical goals for development, with 475 quasi high-speed trains - the Van der Barat Express.

Modi confidently claimed that India is rapidly manufacturing the world's most powerful electric locomotives, that Indian railways have established a new image in the world, and that modern Indian railway engines are moving towards the world. The reality is that the Bharat Express in India is designed with a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour and actually operates at a maximum speed of 130 kilometers per hour. However, due to the aging of most of the tracks, the actual average operating speed is only 83 kilometers per hour.

On June 2nd, two Van der Barat express trains collided in the state of Orissa, causing Modi's scheduled opening ceremony for the new Van der Barat express on June 3rd to be postponed. According to Indian media reports on June 17th, Modi will attend the previously postponed opening ceremony of five Van der Barat express trains after returning from his visit to the United States, which will bring the number of Van der Barat express train routes in India to 23.

The modernization of the Indian railway will not stop due to this tragic high-speed train collision, and the two Van der Barat express trains involved in the Orissa accident have also resumed operation. However, it is necessary for India to reconsider whether the modernization of the railway is most in line with its actual situation. Only by doing a good job in basic work can we achieve stability and progress. Buildings built on sandy land cannot withstand strong winds. The fundamental purpose of development is to meet the needs of the majority of the people in our country.