As Suresh Prabhu prepares to leave office as railways minister, RTI reply reveals over 370 train mishaps since 2014

As Suresh Prabhu prepares to leave office as Minister of Railways after the NDA government’s cabinet reshuffle on Sunday, an RTI response to Firstpost reveals that over 370 major train accidents have been recorded since April 2014 across the country.

The letter from the Railway Board, signed by Deputy Director (safety) RK Sah, enumerates all ‘consequential’ train accidents until 15 August, 2017. The Safety Directorate of the Railway Board defines consequential accidents as ones involving loss of life, grievous injuries, loss to railway property or those leading to significant interruption of traffic.

The total number of accidents since 2014 add up to 368. However, these numbers represent records until 15 August, days before three train mishaps within ten days rocked the Ministry of Railways, the latest incident involving the derailment of the Nagpur-Mumbai Duronto Express  on 29 August. This takes the total number of accidents to at least 371.

RTI railways
Infogram

Since Prabhu took charge as Minister of Railways only on 9 November 2014, a few of the accidents in the table did not happen under his watch. But although the number of these incidents appear to have decreased with Prabhu at the helm, data shows that the number of deaths recorded in train derailments in the year 2016-17 were the highest in a decade.

Here are some of the major accidents that have taken place with Prabhu as railway minister:

Kaifiyat Express derailment

In what turned out to be the second train derailment in just four days , 74 people were injured after the Delhi-bound Kaifiyat Express  derailed near Auraiya district in Uttar Pradesh early on 23 August 2017.

Utkal Express derailment

Fourteen coaches of the high-speed Utkal Express jumped the rails, with one of them crashing into a house adjacent to the track near Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh on 19 August 2017, killing at least 24 people and leaving several others injured.

Hirakhand Express tragedy

Thirty-four passengers died and over 60 injured as the engine and nine coaches of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar  Hirakhand Express derailed  in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh on 22 January 2017. Nine coaches — a luggage van, two general and four sleeper coaches, a second-cum-third AC coach, a third AC coach — and the engine went off the tracks.

Indore-Patna Express derailment

In November 2016, 14 coaches of the  Indore-Patna Express  derailed near Pukhraya in Kanpur Dehat district killing over 100 passengers and injured 226, 76 of them seriously.

Muri Express derailment

The Muri Express , on its way to Jammu Tawi, derailed between Sirathu and Atsarai railway stations and one of its bogies overturned in November 2015. Two people were killed and nine injured in the accident.

Duronto Express derailment

At least two were killed and eight others suffered injuries when nine coaches of a Mumbai-bound train derailed near  Kalburgi  in Karnataka early on 12 September 2015.

Kalka-Shimla derailment

Two persons died and five others were injured after a narrow-gauge train derailed near  Kalka  on 12 September 2015.

Janata Express derailment

The engine and two coaches of the  Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express derailed  near Bachrawan railway station in Rae Bareli on 20 March 2015, killing at least 22 and injuring more than 150.

Bangalore City-Ernakulam Intercity Express derailment

Nine passengers were killed and 16 seriously injured when nine bogies of the  Ernakulam-bound Express train  from Bengaluru jumped off the track near Anekal on 13 February 2015. Five men, three women and a nine-year-old were among those killed.

Kamayani Express and Janata Express derailment

The Kamayani Express and Janata Express both derailed near Harda in Madhya Pradesh near Machak river on 4 August 2015. The Kamayani Express was going to Varanasi from Mumbai while the Janata Express was going from Jabalpur to Mumbai.

While delivering the Rail Budget of 2016, Prabhu announced an action plan called ‘Mission zero accidents’ which involved multiple measures to prevent train mishaps.

On 23 August 2017, after the derailment of Kaifiyat Express, Prabhu took to Twitter to accept moral responsibility.

I met the Hon'ble Prime Minister @narendramodi taking full moral responsibility. Hon’ble PM has asked me to wait. (5/5)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 23, 2017

Although it is highly unlikely that Suresh Prabhu will lead the Ministry of Railways for much longer, many argue that his exit will not solve anything either.