Two trains collided in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh late on Sunday, the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train ramming into the stationary Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger train, killing 14 people so far and leaving around 50 injured.
Officials blamed the accident on human error: A preliminary probe has concluded that the locomotive pilot, the train driver, had overrun a stop signal. This adds another tragedy to the list of disasters caused by the oversight of employees. India’s third deadliest train accident, killing nearly 300 people and injuring 800 five months ago in Balasore, Odisha, too was blamed on human error.
Data from the Commissioner of Railway Safety show that 55 per cent of 292 train accidents that occurred between 2017-18 and 2021-22 were caused by the error of judgment of railway staff. This is not the story in India alone.
According to a study on train accidents in the United Kingdom from 1945 to 2012, the proportion of human error-linked train accidents remained the same, though the absolute number of accidents declined drastically. In the United States, human omissions played a key role in fatal train accidents.
While the human element remains the key factor, it is unfortunate that governments around the world in general, and India in particular, have accepted it as an uncomfortable reality and have not taken steps to invest in human capital and prevent accidents in spite of great strides in technology. Notably, the ‘Kavach’ anti-collision device had not been installed on the trains in Sunday's accident.
Locomotive pilots are responsible for the lives of thousands of passengers and must be taken proper care of, in terms of compensation, living and working standards. The railways should not make them work longer hours to ensure that they are not tired while running the trains. As the world grows more complex and stressful because of a multitude of desires and pressures, the railways should make locomotive pilots undergo periodic tests to check their mental conditioning.
