Unified train operation safety norm to address signal failure to be issued in 10 days: Railway Minister

NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that for signal failure, a unified train operation safety norm applicable to all railway zones will be issued in the next 10 days.

Talking to media persons here, Vaishnaw said the ministry initiated the process of bringing uniformity in subsidiary rules (SR) of all 17 railway zones after the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) flagged contradictions in these norms in its investigation report in the Kanchanjunga train accident that took place on June 17.

A goods train had hit the stationary Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express in the rear, killing 10 people, including the loco pilot of the goods train in West Bengal.

The CRS had said that differences in subsidiary rules of various railway zones regarding speed restriction during automatic signal failure led to confusion.

“We constituted a committee after discussing the matter with the CRS and initiated the work of reviewing all the subsidiary rules of all 17 zones to bring uniformity to them,” Vaishnaw said.

He added, “We have completed the process, and now in another 10 days, unified SR rules applicable to all zones will be issued.”

According to railway officials, the Railway Ministry formulated General Rules (GR) based on which railway zones made their own subsidiary rules to address their local and regional issues.

However, SR can’t contradict GR, they said.

“In the Kanchanjunga accident case, it came to light that there were variations in norms regarding maintaining the train speed during the failure of the automatic signalling system. The CRS probe highlighted it after which the Railway Board took it up to resolve,” a railway official said.