Dinesh Mohan

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Emerging Dimensions of Railway Safety

• Dinesh Mohan
• Transportation Research Injury Prevention
  Programme
• Indian Institute of technology Delhi

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The present situation
Train Accidents on Indian Railways in India(1960-1961 to 2005-2006) Train Accidents on Indian Railways in India(1960-1961 to 2005-2006) Train Accidents on Indian Railways in India(1960-1961 to 2005-2006) Train Accidents on Indian Railways in India(1960-1961 to 2005-2006) Train Accidents on Indian Railways in India(1960-1961 to 2005-2006) Train Accidents on Indian Railways in India(1960-1961 to 2005-2006) Train Accidents on Indian Railways in India(1960-1961 to 2005-2006)
Year Collisions Derail-ments Levelcrossingaccidents Fire intrains Misc. accidents Total
1960-61 130 1,415 181 405 - 2,131
2005-06 9 131 75 15 4 234
Source Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India.
Accidents Factors beyond Railways control Accidents equipment failure Accidents railway staff failure Other Total
107 1 126 6 234
Source Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 544,
dated 28.07.2006
Good news, in time and technology management!
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Number of Persons Killed and Injured According to
Nature of Railways Accidents in India
Nature of Accident 2003-2004 2003-2004  
Nature of Accident Killed Injured  
Passengers 138 599  
In Train Accidents, Failures of Railway Equipment and Misc. Accidents 84 279  
In Unusual Occurrences- Movement of Exclusive of Train Accidents etc. 54 320  
In Unusual Occurrences on Railway Premises not Connected With the Movement of Railway Vehicles - -  
Railway Employees 77 1017  
In Train Accidents, Failures of Railway Equipment and Misc. Accidents 3 28  
In Unusual Occurrences Caused by Movement of Railway Vehicles Exclusive of Train Accidents etc. 50 151  
In Unusual Occurrences on Railway Premises not Connected With the Movement of Railway Vehicles 24 838  
Other Persons 2,748 2,217  
In Train Accidents, Failures of Railway Equipment and Misc. Accidents 155 159  
In Unusual Occurrences Caused by Movement of Railway Vehicles Exclusive of Train Accidents etc. 2593 2058  
In Unusual Occurrences on Railway Premises not Connected With the Movement of Railway Vehicles - -  
Total 2,963 3,833  
Source Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation, Govt. of India
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FATALITIES ASSOCIATED WITH INDIAN RAILWAYS - 2004
  AGE AGE AGE AGE AGE TOTAL
0-14 15-29 30-44 45-59 gt60 TOTAL
Rail-road accidents 70 653 799 547 207 2,276
Other railway accidents 327 4,576 7,058 4,220 1,962 18,143
TOTAL 397 5,229 7,857 4,767 2,169 20,419
Source National Crime Record Bureau, Ministry of
Home Affairs
?
?
Ministry of Statistics Total fatalities
2,963
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FATALITIES ASSOCIATED WITH INDIAN RAILWAYS - 2004
Ministry of Home Affairs 20,419 - 2,963 Ministry
of Statistics 17,456 Not investigated since
they are not consequential
If we reduced consequential accidents by 100
we would still have gt 17,000 Indians dead annually
Possible disabled 40,000 60,000 Serious
injury 200,000
Emerging Dimensions of Railway Safety ???
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Modern society, railway safety, and rights of
citizens

• Indian constitution guarantees the right to life
  to all its citizens irrespective of fault
• Mobility and safety is therefore a fundamental
  right of any modern citizen
• It is the responsibility of institutions to
  resolve any conflicts between the goals of
  mobility and safety within their domain of
  operation
• It is crucial for all stakeholders to consider
  the needs of the most vulnerable
• There is a collective responsibility for
  preventing injuries and deaths due to any cause
  irrespective of the fault of a railway employee
  or technology

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The Zero VisionOctober 1997, Road Traffic Safety
Bill, Swedish Parliament

• The scientific basis of the zero vision differs
  from the usual approach to safety in
  human-machine systems designing a system to
  minimize the number of events that cause injury.
  Instead, the zero vision is based on the notion
  of "allowing" these incidents to occur, but at a
  level of violence that does not threaten life or
  long-term health
• In the zero vision, the entire transport system
  must be designed to accommodate the individual
  who has the worst protection and the lowest
  tolerance of violence. No event must be allowed
  to generate a level of violence that is so high
  that it represents an unacceptable loss of health
  for that vulnerable individual.
• The responsibility for every death or loss of
  health in the road transport system rests with
  the person responsible for the design of that
  system. This is the ethical basis for realizing
  the zero vision.

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Safety managementcomplex and multi-disciplinary
Source Safety Principles and Guidance, Office of
Rail Regulation, UK.
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Safety management complex and multidisciplinary
Source Claire Dickinson. CROSS-CUTTING TOPIC
STRATEGY HUMAN FACTORS. 2007-08 to 2009-10.
Office of Rail Regulation, UK.
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• Results
• The burnt coach

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• Damage mapping of the coach

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• Injuries

• No serious burn injuries among survivors.
  Therefore, most escaped before fire serious
• All burn injuries on upper part of body
• Majority inhalation injuries
• No one burnt on lower part of body
• All fatal cases (58) completely charred.
  Fatalities among those who fell unconscious and
  could not escape

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• Probable escape routes

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Emerging issues

• Expertise needed
• Mechanical engineering
• Injury epidemiology
• Polymer chemistry materials
• Thermodynamics and fire
• Forensic science
• Crowd mechanics
• etc.
• Carriage design
• Emergency response
• Preservation of evidence
• Institutional arrangements for safety research

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Institutional arrangements

• Need for establishment of
• National Railway Safety Research Institute
  (NRSRI) multidisciplinary, at least 50 staff
  permanent with research qualifications
• Endowed chairs in research institutions for
  independent basic and futuristic research on
  railway safety in coordination with NRSRI

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National Railway Safety Research Institute
(NRSRI)

• Must be independent of investigation and
  standards enforcement agencies
• Safety research institutional linkages and
  training
• Laws, operations and management
• Capacity Building
• User behaviour strategies, public awareness
  education, conferences/workshops
• Designing, setting standards and conducting
  audits

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Finally

• Blaming the victim or one employee is the most
  common response to an accident. This cannot
  result in optimal or scientific solutions
• Multidisciplinary / multifactorial approach
  essential for safety promotion
• Everyone has the right to information about
  safety problems and the level of safety of any
  component, product, action or service within the
  rail transport system
• Everyone has the right to expect systematic and
  continuous improvement in safety any stakeholder
  within the rail transport system has the
  obligation to undertake corrective actions
  following the detection of any safety hazard that
  can be reduced or removed

IIT Delhi September 14