Anil Kakodkar Committee on Railway Safety and the Indore-Kanpur rail accident

A High level safety review committee was constituted under the Ministry of Railways headed by Dr Anil Kakodkar, the former Atomic Energy Commission chairman. It also had former managing director of Delhi Metro Rail corporation (DMRCL) E Sreedharan as one of its advisors. It was constituted in the year 2012 by the UPA-2 govt.

Some of the major recommendations of the committee:

• Setting up of an independent body like Railway Safety Authority under the ministry with chairman and experts members being taken from outside the Railways.
• A robust and powerful Safety Architecture to have a safety oversight on the operational mode of the Railways.
• The committee found that 65 per cent of the total deaths due to train accidents were at level crossings. To eliminate this it recommended elimination of both manned and unmanned level crossings within the next five years (i.e., withing 2017) as a measure of avoiding accidents and deaths. This would also improve the line capacity as trains get held up at busy LC gates st the same time save operation and maintenance costs incurred at the gates.
• Monitoring the bridges in terms of scientific measurements of deflections/displacements, water level and flow velocity on a continuous basis and sharing the data with the office of the concerned Chief Bridge Engineer.
• The committee notes that the Railways had already classified at least 3,000 bridges to be 100 years old or more and 32 bridges to be distressed structures, vulnerable bridges need to be fitted with water level gauges and turbine flow meters to measure flow which should be interlocked in a way to warn the driver of the approaching train.
• An advanced signalling system based on continuous track circuiting and cab signalling similar to European train control system Level-II on the entire trunk route of about 19,000 route kilometres at an estimated cost of Rs.20,000 crore within five years.This can be done by the customization to the Indian conditions of technologies like the Anti-Collision Detection Device and the Train Protection and Warning System. 
• If all the recommendations of the committee would be accepted then the total financial implication would be of Rs. 1lakh crore in five years. The fund requirement for doing away with level crossings was estimated at Rs.50,000 crore which is an investment that apart from saving lives could be recouped in about 8 years as the monetary saving due to phasing-out of level crossings would stand at Rs.7,000 crore per annum.
• The committee noted that, based on the data for the last 5 years the Indian Railways was spread across 64,000 route kilometres. The rail derailments accounted for nearly half the total accidents followed by accidents at unmanned level crossing gates (36 per cent). Level crossing incidents contributed to 59 per cent of the deaths and 42 per cent of casualties.
• The committee also recommended time-bound filling up of vacancies in Critical Safety Categories and Manpower Planning Issues.

The committee's recommendations are yet to be implemented completely. The recent Indore-Kanpur train derailment accident is a stark reminder of the risk factors involved in the operation and maintenance of the Indian Railways. Though India has started working on its ambitious Bullet Train and high speed railways for fast and better connectivity, the safety factors needs serious thought and investments. With the railway budget being merged with the general budget, the future of the largest transporter of India will only shine with more funds being allocated for its safety and maintenance along with creation of new rail lines and better facilities for travellers.