Railways sits on ACD, trains continue to collide
New Delhi: A combination of clash of interests, technology and sheer political unwillingness has left trains on collision course as Indian Railways has failed to install the anti-collision device across the country.
There have been 500 deaths in 38 fatal train collisions in the last four years with experts saying these deaths could have been prevented if railways had installed the anti-collision device.
"As soon as the distance between two trains on the same line say reduces below three kms, the brake system of the rear train will apply automatically," says Ghosh Dastidar, former member traffic of Railway Board. The anti-collision device, railways most touted safety equipment, was successfully installed in the North East Frontier Railways in 2006. But the railways is not installing it across the country.
CNN-IBN has learnt that it is a clash between an European Train Control System (TPWS) and the Indigenous ACD. The train protection warning system is a warning signalling system and an add on feature of the ACD. It can't prevent collisions.
The Signal and Telecommunication Directorate of Railways has been pushing for the Train Protection Warning System.
A comparative study between the indigenous and foreign product shows that the cost of implementation of ACD on 850 kms is around Rs 200 crore but the cost of TPWS is much higher at Rs 400 crore. The maintenance cost of anti-collision device is very low but even a cable for TPWS has to be imported.
"Of course lobbying is there. They say take TPWS so we can always say it is a European system and a proven one," says Ramesh Chandra, former member electrical of Railway Board.
The railways has spent over Rs 50 crore to develop the anti-collision device. When Lalu Prasad took charge as the railway minister he ordered enquiry into Nitish Kumar's decision to order anti-collision devices after the biggest head on collision in Ghaisal in 1999.
Later Lalu also voted for the locally developed device and even took a test ride in 2007. But it all got stuck in the Directorate of Signal and Telecommunication and Directorate of Finance.
After many accidents during Mamata Banerjee's tenure the railways now say the ACD is not reliable and there are questions about maintaining the devices.
The question is why has not the railways switched to another technology if they had found the anti-collisiondevice not satisfactory with over 10 years being wasted in the experimentation and tragically many lives have been lost due to the indecision.
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