Indian Railways ends fiscal year 2017-2018 with best safety record in decades

The Indian Railways ended the financial year 2017-18 with the best safety record in decades.

According to a report in The Indian Express, for the first time in 35 years, the number of accidents were in two digits.

As of March 30, the number of accidents recorded in 2017-18 stood at 73, 29% fewer than 104 in 2016-17.

In 1968-69, the number of accidents fell to three digits for the first time, 908 from the 1,111 years in the previous year. Chairman Railway Board Ashwani Lohani: “We are absolutely keeping our fingers crossed and if you see, there is immense emphasis on safety everywhere,” There is also a voluntary reporting system now, which empowers every railway employee to anonymously report any safety-related lapse anywhere in India.”

The casualty figures are also lower than 2016-17 when the Indore-Patna Express derailment had resulted in the death of 150 passengers. While last fiscal there were 68 derailments, only 39 took place this year. Accidents at unmanned level crossings had come down from 15 to eight.

The Railway Ministry had come in for criticism when the Utkal Express derailed in August 2017, which killed over 20 people. Post the accident, Railway Board chairman AK Mital and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu moved on and were replaced by Lohani and Piyush Goyal respectively.