While authorities probe the Kanchanjunga Express-cargo train accident near West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, the toll has raised serious questions over accountability, safety and policy priorities.

Around 10 have reportedly died so far after a goods train slammed into an express passenger train from behind on Monday. Editorials in prominent papers, meanwhile, noted that the railways has not taken any lessons from previous train mishaps. Some even wondered whether the government’s priority list was in the right order, be it the routes selected for Kavach safety system, or the focus on “eye-catching aspects” of modernisation. 

The Indian Express said it must be asked whether more steps need to be taken, and more urgency shown, for a faster Kavach roll-out. 

“While funding now appears to be less of a constraint — in 2023-24, the capital outlay of Indian Railways was pegged at Rs 2.4 lakh crore, nine times the outlay in 2013-14 — it must be asked if there has been a disproportionate political and policy focus on the more eye-catching aspects of modernisation such as Vande Bharat, and whether it is taking a toll on other critical aspects of the system. There are other questions too. Are the communication and feedback mechanisms that are central to operational safety functional and robust? Will responsibility for such accidents be fixed in a system that all too often finds ways to dilute it?”

The Economic Times said the railways must find ways “not to scrimp when it comes to safety of rail passengers”.

“The much-flaunted anti-collision system, Kavach, is currently operational on only 1,500-odd km of rail track, with plans to extend coverage by another 3,000 km by end-2024. Indian Railways has cited costs and practical challenges to 'explain' its limited operationality. In circa 2024 India, this 'explanation' no longer cuts ice. Ways must be found, like defence spend measures, not to scrimp when it comes to safety of rail passengers.”

“Kavach's deployment is being handled by five companies. But manufacturing, deployment and maintenance capacity of Kavach is necessary to maintain the pace of deployment. To achieve this, GoI must substantially increase the budgetary allocation this upcoming budget from ₹560 cr allocated in February. Collaborating with industry, GoI should also enhance availability of trained manpower needed to ensure effective deployment and maintenance of the system. Additionally, the Railway Board should reassess its order of priority to maximise safety during the deployment process. Currently, high-density routes are prioritised over highly-used ones, followed by passenger high-density routes. A more detailed approach within these categories needs to be taken.”

The Business Standard pointed out that the collision between the Sealdah (Kolkata)-bound Kanchanjunga Express and a goods train in northern Bengal suggests that the Indian Railways “has not taken on board the lessons from the three-train crash in Balasore, Odisha, just a year ago, which resulted in significant casualties”. 

“The cause of one of India’s worst train crashes in decades was the result of flaws in the signalling system. Now, preliminary investigation by the Railways into the Kanchanjunga Express tragedy, in which 10 people have died and over 50 injured, suggests that the accident was caused by a defective automatic signalling system” that was compounded by other factors.

The Times of India pointed to the “message from our train wrecks”. 

“As investigation gets underway into Monday’s Kanchanjunga Express-c accident near Jalpaiguri, the question that’s asked after every rail tragedy is back: why do train accidents happen so frequently in India. Answer: because the railways isn’t doing the basics right. Of course, Kavach, the indigenous hi-tech rail safety system, must be installed across the rail network. But there are interim measures the railways can take.”

Hindustan Times said the railways need to revamp wearing tracks, rickety bridges and signalling systems to achieve a zero-accident record.

“Early reports suggest that a combination of signal failure and human error caused the accident. However, IR documents show that the automatic signalling system between stations before New Jalpaiguri, some 30km from the crash site, had failed. While the rules for passage in such situations limit train speeds to within 10km per hour in the event of rain – which was the case on Monday – the freight train driver was said to have been in breach of this.”

“The final Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) probe report should make things clear. But the fact that signalling error continues to be a pain point for the Railways underscores the gaps that remain in modernisation of the rail system.” 

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