Despite significant improvements, safety remains a concern for Indian Railways

A train that was on its way from Chandigarh to Assam’s Dibrugarh derailed on Thursday near Jhilahi Railway Station near Gonda. At least four coaches derailed, and four people died in the incident.

The frequency of train accidents is worrying. Ideally, the number of train accidents should have come down, considering the technological advancements. But a look at the recent incidents tells a different story. From human error to tech glitches, the reasons vary. The railways seem to have learned little from the previous accidents. They need to pull up stocks now. restore the confidence of lakhs of commuters across the country.

However, these frequent train crashes have given the public the perception that the government’s focus is on premium trains such as Vande Bharat, while the normal trains continue to suffer from a host of issues such as overcrowding, a lack of basic hygiene, etc. The narrative is, however, not substantiated by indisputable facts. The railway ministry, too, has not been really aggressive in countering this narrative being propagated on social media. The previous Modi government’s decision to club the rail budget with the general budget too hasn’t gone down well because some sections of society believe rail safety aspects are not important enough.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) records show that roughly 2.6 lakh people have lost their lives in train accidents in the past 10 years.

Now, this Chandigarh to Assam’s Dibrugarh incident has raised safety concerns for the Indian railway. Here is an overview of a few current accidents that have taken place.

2012: On May 22, a cargo train crashed into the Hampi Express near Andhra Pradesh. The collision caused four train cars to flip over, and one caught fire. About 25 people died and 43 were hurt.

2014: On May 26, the Gorakhdham Express hit a stopped freight train near Khalilabad station in Uttar Pradesh. The crash killed 25 people and injured over 50.

2016: On November 20, the Indore-Patna Express went off the tracks near Pukhrayan, Kanpur. At least 150 passengers died and another 150 were injured in this awful accident.

2017: Two major accidents happened this year. On August 23, nine cars of the Kaifiyat Express jumped the tracks near Auraiya, hurting about 70 people. Just a few days earlier, on August 18, the Utkal Express derailed in Muzaffarnagar, killing 23 and injuring around 60.

2022: On January 13, the Bikaner-Guwahati Express had a bad derailment in West Bengal. Twelve train cars went off the tracks, leaving nine people dead and 36 hurt.

2023: A terrible three-train pile-up happened in Odisha on June 2. The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Coromandel Express, and a goods train. Around 50 people lost their lives and over 350 were injured in this massive accident.