Railways to take action against officials responsible for negligence leading to mishaps

In a letter dated December 5, the Railway Board instructed all Indian Railways zonal offices that “disciplinary action” against such officers should be taken by the concerned zonal heads

The Railway Board has instructed all its zonal offices to take strict action against any officer who is found responsible for a train accident or loss of life due to negligence. This, officials said, will be done when an accident inquiry report is taken into account.

The New Delhi railway station. (Sonu Mehta/HT File Photo)

In a letter dated December 5, the Railway Board instructed all Indian Railways zonal offices that “disciplinary action” against such officers should be taken by the concerned zonal heads.

The railway board said they have taken note of negligence by officers in various recent accident cases and hence, it was crucial to not only identify the officer responsible for it as ‘blameworthy’, but also take action against him/ her.

“In various accident cases, it is observed that sometimes negligence on the part of officer(s) has led to situations of (i) inadequate inspection of assets/working, (ii) inadequate supervision of train working, (iii) inadequate worksite protection, (iv) non-compliance of extant rules in working of trains, (v) defective design, (vi) malpractices in the system of working, (vii) failure of system, etc.,” the letter read.

“..It is necessary that in consequential train accidents leading to loss of human life and/or interruption of any important through line of communication for more than 24 hours or as General Manager deems fit, if negligence on the part of officer(s) leading to the above mentioned situations is observed, the concerned officer(s) of Zonal Railway(s) and/or concerned PSUs should be invariably identified and made ‘Blameworthy’ under the para related to responsibility in the Accident Inquiry Report. General Manager, on the recommendation of Principal Chief Safety Officer, may decide upon the level of Disciplinary Action proposed to be taken against such officer(s) while accepting the Accident Inquiry Report,” the letter added.