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Ara : Minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal on September 7, 2017, held a marathon meeting with members of Railway Board & Safety Directorate of Railway Board to comprehensively review safety measures for train operations. A detailed presentation on safety was made at the meeting. There was threadbare discussion on the subject and the root cause of repeated cases of train accidents in recent past was thoroughly analysed. The Minister emphasised that the safety is paramount and there can’t and should not be any compromise on this front.
Unmanned Level Crossings and defects in tracks were identified as two major causes leading to accidents.The special focus of the meeting was to identify measures to reduce accidents due to derailments which has emerged as one of the major causes of train accidents.
Gopal aid all unmanned level crossings should be eliminated expeditiously on the entire Indian Railway network in a year’s time from now and track replacement/renewal should be accorded priority & the tracks (rails) earmarked for use for constructing new lines should be diverted to places/ stretches which are prone to accidents where replacement is due.Goyal said the procurement of new rails should be expedited on a largescale with a view to complete construction of new lines in time., according to a PIB release
The manufacturing of conventional ICF design coaches should be stopped forthwith and new design LHB coaches only should be manufactured, Goyal said. The Minister said anti-Fog LED lights should be installed in Locomotives so that unhindered safe train operations can be ensured during fog season, according to the PIB release.The Minister directed the Railway Board to monitor implementations of this action plan on a regular basis.