The signal error that is believed to have led to two trains being put on the same track, causing today’s collision, is simply inexcusable in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Managing Director E Sreedharan’s vocabulary. And completely avoidable. The man behind India’s most-sophisticated rail network says this is a scenario that you will never see on any stretch of the Delhi Metro as it has been designed collision-proof. And if the Railways even replicated this partly, upgraded their signalling system and eliminated human intervention, accidents like today’s wouldn’t happen, Sreedharan adds. ‘‘The Government should spend more on upgrading the signalling technology. Though the technology is different in every part of the country, most of it is old and needs urgent upgradation. Accidents like this can only be avoided if human intervention in the process is completely eliminated,’’ he says. Delhi Metro, for one, has the Automatic Train Protection System (ATPS), ‘‘Metro trains can never collide as they have sensors which have fixed braking limits at different speeds. This has cost the Metro Rs 10 crore per kilometre and is very expensive for the Government. However, even if they spend anywhere from Rs 1 to Rs 2.5 crore per kilometre and upgrade the system across the country, these incidents will not take place,’’ Sreedharan adds. While Metro imported the system from France and it has been implemented on all its operational stretches, Western and Central Railway too have put similar protection systems in place for Mumbai’s suburban railway network, which averages a train every 3 minutes. The system in Mumbai is, in fact, more than a decade old and is now an indigenous design. But ATPS might not be as beneficial for the Railways because the Metro runs on a faster frequency and is a close/narrow system unlike the Railways. Sreedharan, however, feels Railways can try and fill the gap. ‘‘Japan has high-speed trains running at intervals of 5 minutes and they have not had a collision in the past 40 years. This is because of the technology and work culture that they have. This will also eliminate other causes of accidents such as derailment and brake failure.’’ Most countries in the world have also found better methods to monitor tracks and train positions. Speeds are communicated to other trains and if a train picks up more speed than it should for maintaining adequate distance between two or more trains, brakes are automotically applied. While this procedure is computerised and leaves little space for human error, in the Indian railway system, these details are handled manually. Sreedharan also urges Railway authorities to expand facilities to accommodate growing number of passengers. ‘‘A perfect example is the train station in the Capital which is so overcrowded at any given point but little has been done to extend the services to commuters,’’ he says.
