Chairman and CEO, Railway Board – VK Tripathi recently chaired a meeting with General Managers and Divisional Railway Managers on Safety in Train Operations. The Chairman and CEO directed all the GMs, Principal Head of Departments and DRMs to conduct thorough inspections to identify deficiencies across various segments of railway operation and take corrective measures in their respective zonal railways.
The Chairman & CEO said that Headquarter officers should regularly inspect field units, divisions and installations within their zonal railway. The Chairman also pointed out that zonal railways should devise proper feedback mechanism for meaningful outcome in terms of defect identification and subsequent rectification.
The Chairman & CEO noted that Signal Passing At Danger (SPAD) cases are a serious concern. Efforts should be taken by Zonal Railways to ensure proper counselling of crew is done to prevent SPAD cases in the future. The Chairman also directed Additional Members in the Railway Board to take detailed and extensive feedback from the field regarding deficiencies and act upon them in a time bound manner.
On High Horse Power Locomotives, the Chairman said that HHP locomotives should be utilised effectively for goods train operation. HHP locomotives lying ineffective should be put in service at the earliest.
Regarding enroute coach detachment, the Chairman said this is a serious issue and is indicative of improper inspection and maintenance attention to Mail/Express and Passenger rakes by the Primary Maintenance depots. He directed the GMs to submit an Action Plan for improving the quality of maintenance at the earliest.
On the number of Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches lying under utilised, the Chairman directed that these coaches should be utilised immediately for conversion of long distance ICF rakes to LHB rakes.
The Chairman finally concluded by saying that while the focus should be on reduction in failures, the duration for which the asset remains out of order, thereby affecting train operation should also be minimised and kept under control in order to improve punctuality.
