RailEnquiry

Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge called upon general managers and divisional railway managers of all zonal railways on Monday to ensure zero tolerance to accidents and safety to passengers. "DRMs at the divisional level and GMs at the zonal level shall be responsible for ensuring train safety in their respective areas. Safety should take priority over all other considerations. A policy of 'No loss of life' should be the motto of all railway employees," said Kharge. Kharge further added that a policy of "zero tolerance to accidents" should be adopted at all levels and this has to be achieved through a combination of improved technological aids and high quality training to improve skills of the employees.

Kharge meets GM's, DRM's, emphasises on train safety "Safety culture is essential for any organisation to achieve good safety results. With sustained efforts in the last decade, Railways have reduced the number of mishaps and further effort is required to make Railways free of accidents," the minister said. Observing that most of the fatalities occur in accidents at unmanned level crossings, Kharge said, "Efforts are on to eliminate all unmanned level crossings in the next few years. A strict time frame is to be followed and monitored by all zonal railways." Suggesting over proper rest for train drivers the Railway Minister said "Loco pilots and assistant loco pilots should be monitored and counselled, paying utmost attention to their personal issues including rest, particularly home rest". On the issue of large number of vacancies in safety category, Kharge said, "Filling of vacancies in the safety category posts also should be continuously monitored."  There are about one lakh vacant posts in safety category in railways.