World bank’s suggestions for Indian railways
There has been an increasing number of train accidents in India recently, and four fatal derailments have happened in the last two weeks alone. Therefore, a concern has risen among the people about the validity of the safety measures taken by the Indian Railways to ensure that accidents such as these are prevented.
Therefore, the World Bank pitched a list of various guidelines to help the Indian Railways ensure complete safety for Indian trains and their passengers.
This report was titled “Strengthening Safety on Indian Railways”, and the World Bank is expecting the Indian Railways to embody these guidelines within two years. This is the list of guidelines they provided.
To avoid accidents, trains should be equipped with ditch lights. They should also be painted in a bright yellow color, which will ensure more visibility in twilight hours.
All railway employees, especially train drivers, should be given high-visibility clothing. This clothing should be able to be worn all year long.
Make sure rail employees wear this clothing while on duty at all times. Footwear and helmets can be chosen by the employees, but they must stay well within the allowance’s range and serve their purpose.
All trains must have fire extinguishers equipped, and all staff members must be aware of various fire prevention methods.
Level crossings and paths must be painted with a crosshatch pattern. This will be able to alert drivers to the danger of people being in the area.
The investigators employed for the investigation of the root cause of these accidents must be further trained so they can analyze the situation better.
Authorities must review their timetables so that a maintenance block of four hours is given to all main lines. Additionally, safety performance in terminal operations must be reviewed.
The Railways must create an independent rail safety regulator, which will strengthen the power of the railway safety commissioner. This will form a safety management system under the Chairman of the Railway Board.
To address any accidents, including derailments and fires, an emergency response plan must be constituted.
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