Passenger Safety in Railways - Additional Inputs
Dear Friends,
We had reviewed this subject a while back when the circle was half the size. Kindly give your inputs on Passenger Safety in Railways from two perspectives:
1) Safety on tracks from collisions/accidents
2) Safety from anti social elements/thefts/harassment etc.
When giving inputs, please highlight whether you are talking about an Issue, Root Cause or a Solution to the problem with your comments.
Below is the set of inputs already compiled to please review them.
Post this review, we will share the whitepaper directly with Railways Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu.
Thanks for your participation!
Rajendra Pratap Gupta
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Issues and Root Causes identified:
1. No guards in the compartments even at night time
2. The train driver has no idea of what is going on in the compartments
3. A lot of cities still have single track connectivity
4. Signalling and interlocking is done manually
5. No systems to operate the train in heavy fog
6. People without tickets or with waiting tickets can easily walk into a reserved compartment
7. Railway tracks not in their prime position
8. Eve teasing is very common on railway stations
9. Thefts and armed robberies happen in trains
10. No precautions against fire. No fire alarms installed
11. Safety of women and children is a big concern
12. Train and the platform are not at the same level which warrants danger for the passengers
13. Luggage is often lost inside trains and on platforms
14. No information display inside the train
15. Absence of an auto braking system in case of an emergency
16. Thefts take place inside train when passengers are sleeping in night
17. Accidents at unmanned railway crossings
18. AC coaches catching fire due to short circuits
19. Lack of first aid kits
Solutions identified:
1. Police verification of pantry staff in train should be done
2. CCTV at both doors to be installed in all coaches
3. Announcement system Or Panic Button to be installed in all coaches so that any passenger observing theft/ danger/ fire etc can inform to security personnel/ guard
immediately
4. More no. of Railway police should be on board on each train
5. They should take continuous rounds within train to keep watch. Usually they move once and then sit somewhere.
6. Study on material used to build coaches required to make it fire resistant
7. Installation of first aid kit and fire equipment in every coach
8. Many passengers mix alcohol with soft drink and drink in train, they are risk to fellow passengers. Police should keep strict watch on such practices
9. Auto allocation of berths can be done as - families in separate coaches & single male passengers in separate coaches to avoid any nuisance to families. Berth to single lady passengers to be allotted in family coach
10. Alertness, quick action and presence of mind are key factors for security personnel. They should be trained vigorously on this. Current observation is - they are lethargic, do not take pride in their job, somehow finish one round and then relax.
11. If security personnel want to question any passenger, it must be done in front of camera (located at gates) to avoid any complaint on harassment by them as well as false claims by passengers. more
We had reviewed this subject a while back when the circle was half the size. Kindly give your inputs on Passenger Safety in Railways from two perspectives:
1) Safety on tracks from collisions/accidents
2) Safety from anti social elements/thefts/harassment etc.
When giving inputs, please highlight whether you are talking about an Issue, Root Cause or a Solution to the problem with your comments.
Below is the set of inputs already compiled to please review them.
Post this review, we will share the whitepaper directly with Railways Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu.
Thanks for your participation!
Rajendra Pratap Gupta
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issues and Root Causes identified:
1. No guards in the compartments even at night time
2. The train driver has no idea of what is going on in the compartments
3. A lot of cities still have single track connectivity
4. Signalling and interlocking is done manually
5. No systems to operate the train in heavy fog
6. People without tickets or with waiting tickets can easily walk into a reserved compartment
7. Railway tracks not in their prime position
8. Eve teasing is very common on railway stations
9. Thefts and armed robberies happen in trains
10. No precautions against fire. No fire alarms installed
11. Safety of women and children is a big concern
12. Train and the platform are not at the same level which warrants danger for the passengers
13. Luggage is often lost inside trains and on platforms
14. No information display inside the train
15. Absence of an auto braking system in case of an emergency
16. Thefts take place inside train when passengers are sleeping in night
17. Accidents at unmanned railway crossings
18. AC coaches catching fire due to short circuits
19. Lack of first aid kits
Solutions identified:
1. Police verification of pantry staff in train should be done
2. CCTV at both doors to be installed in all coaches
3. Announcement system Or Panic Button to be installed in all coaches so that any passenger observing theft/ danger/ fire etc can inform to security personnel/ guard
immediately
4. More no. of Railway police should be on board on each train
5. They should take continuous rounds within train to keep watch. Usually they move once and then sit somewhere.
6. Study on material used to build coaches required to make it fire resistant
7. Installation of first aid kit and fire equipment in every coach
8. Many passengers mix alcohol with soft drink and drink in train, they are risk to fellow passengers. Police should keep strict watch on such practices
9. Auto allocation of berths can be done as - families in separate coaches & single male passengers in separate coaches to avoid any nuisance to families. Berth to single lady passengers to be allotted in family coach
10. Alertness, quick action and presence of mind are key factors for security personnel. They should be trained vigorously on this. Current observation is - they are lethargic, do not take pride in their job, somehow finish one round and then relax.
11. If security personnel want to question any passenger, it must be done in front of camera (located at gates) to avoid any complaint on harassment by them as well as false claims by passengers. more
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View all 99 comments Below 99 comments
Where you will accommodate ? Are they not passenger? My suggestion : " Allow them with fine say Rs 100 more
Mar 04
Railway should take care of its' fellow passengers. No passenger should be allowed to the reserved compartments. But we are seeing the violations by the Railway Employees, "TTE" They are not caring anything related with reserved compartment as per prescribed by The Railway. On the above ground I like advise Railways if any incident occured in the compartment by the unauthoried passengers for that incident TTE will be the responsible person and be panalized for his unlawful activities. more
Dec 05
There has been significant increase in instances of people and small vehicles getting hit by trains at level crossings while crossing tracks- either because they wanted to rush or were not aware of oncoming trains ( with ear phones of mobiles blocking some sound out). We can consider automatic modern design audio -visual alarm at Level crossings - which give out siren type high pitch alarm as well as flashing bright red lights to alert people about approaching trains - alarms should be active only when the train is approaching and shut off by itself after train passes. Today's alarms are very low pitch bell ringing sound and lights are very small and not visible from all angles. To ensure that vehicles do not cross tracks after the alarm lights are turned on - there could be barricades that are raised automatically from ground and prevent any vehicles from crossing - the barricades will be lowered after the train passes- again the old style drop barricades are very inadequate to prevent the small vehicles from stopping . more
Dec 03
The concern related to Safety from anti social elements/thefts/harassment etc and related solutions are as below: 1. While moving Railway Police never have any place/booth/location where anybody can register a complaint. (but they show they have, obviously the invisible one). They should display or convey their location to the passengers before boarding the train by any arrangements they can make. 2. They should have any short numbers while moving and any central number like 198 which is accessible while moving and should also be printed in the tickets. There should be a separate special police helpline numbers for Women,Child,Senior citizen passengers. 3. Railway police should display their batches including the numbers, so that anybody if being cheated/bribed, they can complaint it to vigilance, procedures for the same should be displayed on the ticket. 4. Railway Police should keep close vigil on the passengers boarding the sleeper/AC coaches with general/short/local tickets. more
Dec 03
In addition: outdated coaches cause accidents recently, should be well maintained (clean as well) coaches with strict checklist should be implemented. Most of them are in rules (paper), not in operation. In every coach, we can see at least one window critically damaged and many windows that are in bad condition. And this is same for fan, lights, taps, toilets, pillows, blankets, seats (some of them are in broken condition). Second point, uneven platforms, they doesn't fit for current coaches. It is difficult for passengers to board into train. Should have support for disable persons on all stations (like lift, escalators, wheel chair, etc). more
Dec 03
