Train crashes: Prevention ignored, results obvious

A train hit a microbus in Chattogram's Mirsharai in July 2022, killing 13 people. Two Railway probe committees then recommended installing CCTV cameras and automatic alarms at level crossings, eliminating the manpower shortage and evicting illegal structures around the railway line to prevent future accidents.

Following another fatal train accident at Khulshi in Chattogram in December 2021, a probe committee recommended that Bangladesh Railway evict illegal structures around the Jhautala railway crossing to prevent future accidents. 

However, the Bangladesh Railway has not taken any significant steps to implement these recommendations, except for some superficial efforts to reclaim land.

Public transport experts said inefficient top officials, outdated signalling systems, outdated rolling stock, unprotected level crossings, and lack of manpower are causing rail accidents.

However, the authorities are doing nothing to establish safe railways except to form probe committees after accidents occur. Most of the recommendations made by these committees are ignored, which is why accidents continue to happen.

On Monday, at least 17 people were killed and over 100 others injured after two trains — Egarosindhur Express and a freight train — collided in Bhairab of Kishoreganj.

The Ministry of Railways and the Directorate of Fire Service and Civil Defence have each formed an investigation committee to probe the accident.

Even before the probe committees started working, Bangladesh Railway suspended three railway officials: the locomaster, assistant locomaster, and guard of the freight train involved in the collision.

"The causes of railway accidents have been known for a long time, but there are few preventive measures in place."

Dr Shamsul Haque, director of Accident Research Institute, Buet

Even Mohammad Humayun Kabir, secretary of the Ministry of Railways, acknowledges that there is rarely any accountability for railway accidents.

At a meeting to discuss how to prevent train accidents in August last year, he told Bangladesh Railway officials that they often promise to investigate accidents, but rarely do so. He also commented on the lack of coordination among railway officials.

At the same meeting, then-Director General of Bangladesh Railways Dhirendra Nath Mazumder said that probe reports often reveal that one department blames another for accidents, which obscures the real cause of accidents and makes it difficult to hold anyone accountable.

When asked about disciplinary action against those responsible for train accidents, Bangladesh Railway Director General Kamrul Ahsan said that there are precedents, but he could only provide one example: the train accident at Mandbagh in Kasba upazila of Brahmanbaria in November 2019, in which 17 people died.

According to the Bangladesh Road Safety Foundation, 241 people died in 226 railway accidents in the first 10 months of this year, and 248 people were injured. Since 2018, 1,116 railway accidents have killed 1,345 people.

Saidur Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Road Safety Foundation, said that investigation committees are rarely formed after railway accidents.

"Even when committees are formed, they often hold a few meetings and then submit no report," he said. "Meanwhile, another accident happens and a new committee is formed."

Rahman said that railway accidents are not decreasing because the railway authorities try to cover up their mistakes by blaming low-level workers. "Rail accidents have now become structural killings," he said.

Accident causes were identified long ago

The causes of railway accidents have been known for a long time, but there are few preventive measures in place.

Transport expert and Director of Buet's Accident Research Institute Dr Shamsul Haque told The Business Standard, "Everyone knows the reason for accidents, but there is little interest in implementing preventive measures." 

He said while there is interest in funding massive new railway construction projects, there is less interest in investing in maintaining and operating existing infrastructure to provide quality services to the public.

"New railways are being constructed, but the centuries-old analogue signal system is still being used," Shamsul Haque said, suggesting that an automatic system to stop multiple trains on the same line would be a valuable safety measure.

Railway documents reveal that a 2021 meeting chaired by the railway minister recommended the inclusion of supervising officers in determining liability in railway accidents.

At that meeting, railway officials noted that one person often has to do the work of three to four people due to manpower shortages and that around 1,000 accidents occur each year due to illegal unmanned level crossings.

Shamsul Haque said that it is difficult to identify the real culprits of railway accidents if railway officers investigate themselves. Such committees are often discouraged from identifying the responsibilities of top officials involved in the training and management of railway staff, even though these officials may be responsible for the accidents. 

To solve this problem, the transport expert suggested the formation of independent investigation committees to investigate railway accidents.