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Journalism of Courage
EVERY time there is a rail accident in the country, nearly 4,000 engineers at the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) hold their breath till the cause of the derailment is officially announced. For, after 50 years of being the lone producer of tracks for the Indian Railways, the BSP has quite a reputation to uphold.
And largely, it has lived up to it. Including during the latest accident at Rafiganj. While still to recover from the ghastly scenes of crushed coaches of the prestigious Rajdhani at the accident site, Managing Director B.K. Singh is relieved the tragedy wasn’t the result of faulty rails or ‘‘compromise with quality’’. ‘‘It’s God’s grace. The BSP lives up to its reputation.’’
Beginning December 2003, BSP is entering another phase of its life, when for the first time it will start production of 78-m long rails. These will be devoid of repetitive jerks, and comparatively safer to older rails. BSP also proposes to introduce flash-butt welding of joints, replacing the on-site welding currently done by Railways.
Currently, BSP supplies over four lakh tonnes of 13-m long rails to Indian Railways. By next March, even this will be raised to 5.90 lakh tonnes per annum.
‘‘Train journeys will be smooth and jerk-free on long rail tracks,’’ Singh claims. He adds he can’t assure anything more given that sabotage, tampered tracks, human error and negligence are behind most accidents. ‘‘I can only assure world-class quality, metallurgical safety and longer life of rails.’’
In a more ambitious proposal, BSP also hopes to bring down hydrogen content in rails from the existing 2.5 PPMs to 2 PPMs. A higher percentage of hydrogen in steel leads to bubbles, which can cause micro-cracks and thus endanger safety. Currently, only Germany makes tracks with 2 PPM hydrogen content.
