Costs cut over passenger safety

CHENNAI: The Railways is compromising safety of passengers in the name of bringing down expenditure, All India Loco-Running Staff Association (AILRSA) joint secretary K Partha Sarathi claimed on Wednesday.Reacting to Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi’s statement that an error by the driver could have led to Tuesday’s Arakkonam train collision, he said that blaming the driver now would hamper any further probe. “The investigation committees will go by the words of the Minister without looking into the real cause of the mishap,” he said. Even if the driver was to blame, the Minister should not have openly declared any such detail before a thorough investigation was conducted, he added.There were many problems with the gate signals and authorities don’t pay attention to it, he claimed. Further, he said trains plying on the Arakkonam-Katpadi line do not have anti-collision devices or train protection warning systems, to stop the train in case of any malfunction or danger. Similarly, the anti-collision device installed on the Gudiyatham route was also not maintained properly, he alleged.According to him, scores of operators have said it was difficult to operate a train independently. “We have been demanding for assistant operators, so that we can avoid human error. But the government is least bothered about our concerns,” Partha Sarthi said.