Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Railways

14-March-2012 14:28 IST

Railway Safety Authority to be Set up

Strong Emphasis on Strengthening Safety: Dinesh Trivedi

Three ‘Safety Villages’ to be set up for Skill Development for Disaster Management

The Ministry of Railways proposes to set up an independent Railway Safety Authority as a statutory regulatory body as recommended by Kakodkar Committee. This was announced by the Minister of Railways Shri Dinesh Trivedi. Introducing the Railway Budget for 2012-13 in Parliament today, he said, the function of the authority would be worked out in greater details in line with international practices in the best interest of passenger safety. The Minister said since research and development activities are central to any tangible results in the area of safety enhancement, he also proposed to set up a Railway Research and Development Council at the apex level to spearhead such efforts. Shri Trivedi said, his entire emphasis is going to be on strengthening Safety.

Admitting that he is not at all satisfied with the safety standard at the present moment, the Minister said the commitment made in 2001 to reduce accidents per million train km from 0.55 to 0.17 has been achieved. He said, however the target should be zero death. The Minister said that more than 40% of the consequential train accidents, involving 60% to 70% of the total casualties occur at unmanned railway crossings. To fast track elimination of level crossings in the next five years, the railways have decided to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Rail-Road Grade Separation Corporation of India.

Shri Trivedi said, in order to achieve even higher safety standards, he has decided to set up a committee to examine the current standards of safety on Indian Railways and to suggest suitable benchmarks and safety protocols. He said, considering the zero tolerance approach in the areas of nuclear science and aerospace, he feels that the best people to guide railways in determining appropriate safety protocols should be from these two fields.

The Minister also announced that a New Board Member (Safety/Research) to be inducted in the Railway Board.

He said, three ‘Safety Villages’ to be set up at Bengaluru, Kharagpur and Lucknow for skill development for disaster management.

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MKP/AD/DB

Railway safety authority creation to establish independent statutory regulator strengthening passenger safety and setting national safety protocols. An independent Railway Safety Authority is proposed as a statutory regulatory body to strengthen passenger safety, with a New Board Member (Safety/Research) and an apex Railway Research and Development Council to coordinate safety R&D; a committee will set safety benchmarks and protocols, while a Special Purpose Vehicle will fast-track level crossing elimination and three Safety Villages will provide disaster management skill development.