After digging deep to find the root cause of growing train accidents, railway officials concluded that the replacement of old tracks with the new ones should be done on priority. The ambitious track renewal program started by railways is in full swing and many unmanned level crossings have also been eliminated.
As per the current data, prepared by the Safety Directorate, railways witnessed 69 rail derailments between April 1, 2016 and January 15, 2017 which came down to 41 between April 1, 2017 and January 15, 2018. Accidents because of unmanned crossings in the same period were down from 16 to 10. The Railways had undertaken track renewal work for 3,600 km in 2017-18 and has set a target of replacing 3,900 km of tracks in 2018-19.
With the total expenditure of Rs.73,065 crore planned for safety activities in fiscal 2018-19, Railways has ensured that they are giving the highest priority to safety. Till the time unmanned crossings are eliminated, they are planning to introduce a hooter system based on space technology at vulnerable accident spots.
