Railway meet keeps track of safety

BHUBANESWAR: Railway safety officers from across the country met here on Friday to brainstorm how to minimise the mishaps which have claimed so many lives in the recent times.While the total number of rail mishaps is reported to have witnessed a decline nationally, the high casualties in some major accidents have been a concern, the All India Railway Traffic Safety Officers’ Conference felt.Traffic officers of all 17 Zonal Railways, including Metro Railway, Kolkata, are taking part in the two-day conference to discuss train operations and passengers’ safety. The conference was inaugurated by Indra Ghosh, General Manager, East Coast Railway (ECoR). Executive Director of Railway Board A S Upadhyay, also Director (Safety), attended the conference which discussed a host of subjects, including preparations of accident manual and disaster management plan.Similarly, operating trains during fog also topped the agenda since it has led to severe delay in timings. The conference also expressed deep concerns over mishaps occurring at manned and unmanned level crossings.The level of stress on safety officers also figured at the meeting, sources said adding, plans to implement the 10-hour duty were debated threadbare. “Those personnel responsible for the safety of operations, such as traffic and signalling officials, need to be stress-free,” said an officer. Simplification of rules for ASMs, training of traffic staff, broad-based safety organisations at divisional level and inter-departmental coordination for safety were discussed.Ghosh said the conference, hosted for the first time in Railways, will help minimise mishaps and improve quality of services. All the operation heads placed their action plans.Chief Operations Manager of ECoR R B Das and Senior Deputy General Manager as well as Chief Vigilance Officer Subrat Tripathy also spoke.