Kakodkar Committee Report and a Trillion Rupees for Railway Safety

The newly appointed railway minister Sadananda Gowda swung into action, and within one week the high-level committee report was dusted out by the mandarins to prepare an action plan.

Prabhu, within no time, was off the block. He talked about mopping resources through innovative measures.

PM's Swachh Bharat campaign would have had the most visible impact on the Indian Railways. So Prabhu underscored its importance, both in letter and spirit. Another hallmark of Prabhu's tenure has been his extensive use of social media to mete instant help to passengers, much like his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj. Some even sought diapers for their babies from Prabhu on Twitter while travelling on trains.

So it all takes us back to the recommendations of the Kakodkar Committee which estimated way back in 2012 that the suggested measures would "not only eliminate the accidents at level crossings which account for 65 per cent of total deaths due to train accidents, but will also improve the line capacity as trains get held up at busy level crossings gates. It will also save operation and maintenance costs incurred on the gates."

More that trillion rupees by some estimates will be needed to upgrade signalling system and strengthening of tracks. The Railway Minister had written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the creation of separate funds for this purpose. Additionally, more than 1 lakh personnel will have to be taken on the rolls by the Railways to meet the requirements.

The response is awaited.

Former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi in his initial response to Sunday’s train accident near Kanpur city made a terse observation.