Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed

Even though rail accidents have come down to one-third, major accidents are not being stopped. Most of the accidents occur due to faults in railway tracks or negligence of motorists at railway crossings. The number of casualties in these accidents is comparatively less. However, major accidents are happening due to the negligence of railway workers. Recently, 11 passengers of a tourist microbus were killed by a train at the Mirsrai railway crossing (29 July 2022) at 1:00 pm on Friday in Mirsrai area of Chittagong.

Seven others were injured. The condition of five of them is critical. All the injured are passengers of the microbus and their homes are in Aman Bazar area of Hathazari Upazila of Chittagong. Based on the initial information, Anshar Ali, Divisional Transport Officer of Eastern Railway said that the 'Mahanagar Prabhati' express was coming from Dhaka to Chittagong. While crossing a level crossing in Khayachara area, a microbus suddenly got on the line. After the collision, the microbus got stuck with the engine of the train.

In that situation, the train stopped after pulling the microbus quite a bitAt that time, railway official Anshar claimed, "Gateman Saddam barricaded by throwing bamboo after receiving the signal of the train coming." But the microbus pushed the bamboo and got up at the crossing.

Later, Eastern Divisional Railway Manager Muhammad Abul Kalam Chowdhury claimed, "Gateman was present at the time of the incident. He repeatedly raised the red flag to stop them, but the microdriver did not listen. Such a big accident happened because of his negligence. However, eyewitness Mofizul Haque claimed that there was no gateman there at the time of the accident. He went to the mosque for Friday prayers.

Dr. MM Mazed, the founder of jatio rogi kallan Society wrote a column on today's topic.. Rail is known as the safest mode of transportation all over the world. Railways in Bangladesh are safer than roads or waterways, but accidents that cause loss of life and property are constantly taking place on the railways.

> Causes of accidents:-

According to the 'Annual Report on Railway Accidents-2019', 421 persons including 89 women and 46 children were killed and 366 persons including four women and 33 children were injured in 393 railway accidents. And according to the calculations of Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, 469 people were killed and 706 injured in 482 railway accidents in 2019. 254 people were killed and 42 injured in 270 railway accidents in 2021. In Bangladesh, train derailment is the most common cause of rail accidents and most people die in collisions between trains and other vehicles at unprotected railway crossings. Let us see what is the role of structural problems behind these accidents.

In the ten years from 2008-09 to 2017-18, a total of 2,428 accidents have occurred, of which 2,155 derailment accidents are 89 percent of the total accidents.

> Risky Railways: It can be seen from Bangladesh Railway Information Book 2018, a total of 2 thousand 428 accidents occurred in the ten years from 2008-09 to 2017-18, of which 2 thousand 155 accidents were derailed which is 89 percent of the total accidents.

And the factors responsible for train derailment accidents include faulty railways, mechanical problems of engines or coaches, signal system problems, various types of human errors and disobedience of rules etc. According to newspaper reports, Bangladesh has the highest cost per kilometer of railway construction compared to developed countries in the world.

In 11 years, the ruling government has spent about 64 thousand crore rupees on the development of railways. As much as there is encouragement to take up high-cost railway construction projects, there is disincentive to rehabilitate existing railways and railway bridges. As a result, there are 739 km of quality railway lines across the country, which is only 25.23 percent of the total railway lines.

402 railway bridges are vulnerable. Railway lines are vulnerable due to shortage of stones on the line, theft of rail clips and nut-bolts due to lack of provision and parts needed to repair shaky tracks. Along with the vulnerable railway, 195 out of 278 engines and 900 out of 1,656 coaches have ended their lives.

Also, their repair and maintenance work is not done properly. According to newspaper reports, 20 percent of coaches in Eastern Railway are running without annual inspection and maintenance. This work is not being done due to lack of manpower and lack of carriages. On the other hand, 12 percent of meter gauge and 8 percent of broad gauge carriages in western region are not repaired on time.

Again, when a passenger train reaches its destination, its engines and coaches are checked for 45 minutes. At this time, the compartment should be washed and checked. But this work is not given much importance. Apart from this, there is a rule of day-long inspection of the buggy by taking it to the repair factory every three months. After a year, it is said to repair by taking a major test at the factory. There is also allocation for these. But regular maintenance is not done properly

> Absence of automatic train stopping system: On the early night of November 12, 2019, the waiting Sylhet-to-Chittagong Udayan Express hit the waiting Sylhet-to-Chittagong-bound 'Turna Nishitha Express' from Chittagong in the early night of Brahmanbaria. 17 people were killed and 54 people were injured.

The Ministry of Railways and the Railways constituted four separate inquiry committees due to the accident. In three of these committee reports, the cause of the accident has been attributed to driver inattention. The driver of 'Turna Nishitha' Tasir Uddin defied three signals and entered the station and rammed the 'Udayan Express'.

The driver did not brake in time to stop the train. The guard had the opportunity to stop the train by opening the vacuum but the guard did not perform that duty. The investigation committees made five recommendations to prevent accidents. These are - installation of CC cameras in train locomotives (engines), regular training of train operators, quick filling of vacant posts of train operators, introduction of modern communication system between stations and trains and introduction of automatic train stopping (ATS) system.

Now the question is that the collision of one train with another train is not the first in Bangladesh. On December 8, 2010, two trains – Godhuli and Chatla – collided head-on at Narsindi as the driver of the Chatla ignored the signal. The railway inquiry report then said that the driver passed out after drinking tea at Bhairav station or that the signal was ignored!59 Whether the driver was unconscious, asleep or negligent, the question is why would a similar accident happen a second time? So far, why monitoring of drivers while running trains, modern communication system between stations and trains or automatic train stopping system has not been introduced?

> Unprotected level crossings: Most of the rail accidents occur due to derailment of trains and the highest number of deaths are caused by collisions between trains and other vehicles at unprotected level crossings. According to Railways, a total of 868 accidents took place across the country from 2014 to June 2019. 111 people lost their lives in these accidents. 96 accidents occurred at level crossings. 99 people lost their lives in these accidents.

Almost all of them are passengers of buses, microbuses and small vehicles crossing the crossing. Railway authorities do not keep track of the number of pedestrians who have lost their lives while crossing railway crossings. As per railways, there are 2574 railway crossings across the country. Among them, 1 thousand 468 approved railway crossings. That means 43 percent crossings are illegal.

To say sanctioned, the concerned organization has taken the approval of the railway while constructing the road over the railway line. Permission is granted only after paying 10 years maintenance cost after construction of barriers and infrastructure and staffing of crossings.

Consequently it is the responsibility of the Railways to secure the authorized crossing. However, only 564 crossings are equipped with barriers, guards and information on train movement. In other words, the remaining 904 valid crossings do not have any protection. Railway authorities are solving the responsibility by hanging warning signboards at these crossings. As a result, frequent accidents occur that are easily preventable.

According to railway data, the total number of railway crossings across the country is 2,574. Among them, 1 thousand 468 are not approved. That means 43 percent crossings are illegal. To say sanctioned, the concerned organization has taken the approval of the railway while constructing the road over the railway line.

And most of these crossings are on Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) roads. There are also Municipalities, Union Parishads, City Corporations and Roads and Public Ways (SOAZ) roads. In all, 82 percent of the railway crossings in the country are unprotected. Railway sources said that 85 percent of the deaths in railway accidents are at railway crossings. However, the railway authority does not keep track of deaths due to cuts on railway lines. Head-on collisions, derailments, collision of one train with another train, crushing of a train at a railway crossing—these are considered as accidents.

According to railway documents, the railways has spent Rs 196 crore since 2015 to make railway crossings safer. Under the two projects, 702 railway crossings have been developed in the eastern and western sections of the railway. 1 thousand 532 guards have been appointed under this. Rail crossing developments include the installation of barriers and the construction of guard houses. Even then the railway crossing was not safe.

The construction of flyovers over railway lines has been under discussion for more than a century. Souz built a few highway flyovers. In others, the organizations are not able to decide who will build the flyover. As a result, it remains vulnerable.

Earlier on December 8, 2010, 13 people including the driver Zahir Mia were killed in a head-on collision between a Chittagong-bound Godhuli and a Dhaka-bound Chatla at Narsingdi. The accident occurred due to the failure of the driver of the chattel to signal.

The eastern section of the railway consists of Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions. Passenger traffic is high in this region. The western region of the railway consists of the districts on the western bank of the Padma river.

According to a statistic of the general manager's office of the eastern region, 204 accidents occurred in 2010. 165 accidents occurred in 2011, 138 in 2012, 167 in 2013 and 147 in 2014. Although the accident rate decreased in 2013 and 2014, accidents due to vandalism increased. At that time there was unrest in the country.

According to railway sources, the accidents decreased in 2015 when stability returned to the country. Eastern region recorded 88 accidents that year, 67 in 2016, 71 in 2017 and 72 in 2018. And 50 accidents occurred in 9 months till September 30, 2019.

According to sources in the office of the Director General of Railways Eastern Region, 15 people died in 88 railway accidents in 2015. 19 people died in 147 accidents in 2014. Exact figures for the 2016 and 2017 accident deaths were not immediately available. However, most of the fatalities in Eastern Railway accidents have occurred at level crossings. The inquiry committee formed by the railway authorities after preliminary inquiry blamed the negligence of the drivers. After 28 medium-sized accidents at railway crossings in two years, a review of the inquiry report by the railway authorities found that the railway inquiry committee held drivers responsible for 25 of the accidents. Gateman has been blamed for only one accident.

Finally, I would like to say that all the structural reasons that can be seen in the analysis of various accidents that occur regularly in Bangladesh, tragic accidents happen again and again, most of the reasons of which should be known to the concerned authorities, and if certain steps are taken, it is possible to reduce the rate of those accidents to a large extent. But due to various reasons, accidents happen due to not taking these very necessary steps.

In many cases, it is seen that it is profitable for various groups to continue the existing flawed system, as a result of which the influence of these groups creates obstacles in the way of solving the structural problems. Again, the additional investment that has to be made for accident prevention and risk management is profitable for the concerned organization in the long run, but many do not want to make this investment considering the immediate profit and loss.

And this is why the institutional supervision of the regulatory authorities is very important in this regard. An organization has no incentive to invest in accident prevention if it sees no penalties or compensation for accidents. On the other hand, if an accident occurs, all those concerned are punished and compensated for it by uncovering various structural factors underlying the accident through a thorough investigation, then those institutions are forced to take all kinds of precautionary measures to prevent accidents.

Author, Founder, jatio rogi kallan Society