RailEnquiry

Chennai: Southern Railway has seldom learnt from its mistakes. There is no guarantee that a fatality like the Vyasarpadi EMU incident would not recur. Instead of making stringent rules after the 2009 incident, the department has relaxed them.   
DC learnt from motormen that precisely after the Vyasarpadi incident, the department started giving EMU keys to them, apparently, shunning responsibility. Several motormen preferring anonymity admitted to carrying train keys even during non-duty hours.   
Worse, the maintenance workers at Tambaram, Avadi, Velachery, Beach and MMC also have easy access to keys, they revealed.   
The following day after the 2009 Vyasarpadi incident, motormen recommended RDSO to introduce biometric system or at least have custom made keys to restrict access to EMU piloting and therefore avoid mishaps.  
The recommendations have not seen the light of the day as yet, leaving the city’s EMU network vulnerable to ‘misuse’. “My duty starts at Tambaram. But I carry the key from home in Kodambakkam. Most motormen do this,” a senior motorman admitted, pointing out how a motorman lost his key-kit on his way to duty. Ironically, the keys are universal and a key could be used to operate any EMU.   
“Vyasarpadi incident was due to mishandling of train key. With a biometric system, the mysterious man would not have piloted the EMU and killed six people,” opined a member of All India Loco Running Staff Association. A motorman wondered why the railways was content with passing the buck to motormen instead of optimising public safety by introducing biometric system.