Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that safety is paramount and there cannot and should not be any compromise on this front. The Minister, who has taken over the reins of Indian Railways after a series of train mishaps in recent months, said that track replacement and renewal should be accorded priority even as he directed the Railway Board to speed up the procurement of new rails on a large scale with a view to complete construction of new lines in time.
Goyal said this while taking a day long meeting on Safety with members of full Railway Board including its Chairman Ashwani lohani and Safety Directorate of Railway Board.
A detailed presentation on safety was made and a threadbare discussion on the subject and the root cause of repeated cases of train accidents in recent past were analysed, said a railway spokesman adding that this was first meeting of the new Rail Minister who sought to comprehensively review safety measures for train operations. The two major causes leading to accidents were identified as unmanned level crossings and derailments due to defects in tracks
"The rails earmarked for use for constructing new lines should be diverted to places or stretches which are prone to accidents and where replacement is due," Goyal conveyed to the railway officials.
The special focus of the meeting was to identify measures to reduce accidents due to derailments which has emerged as one of the major causes of accidents. Goyal also directed that unmanned level crossings should be eliminated expeditiously on the entire Indian Railway network in a year's time from now; manufacturing of conventional ICF design coaches should be stopped forthwith and new design lHB coaches should only be manufactured.
He also advised anti-fog lED lights to be installed in the locomotives so that unhindered safe train operations can be ensured during fog season. He also directed the Railway Board to monitor implementations of action plan on a regular basis.