18-05-2013, 12:53 PM
SAFETY OF INDIAN RAILWAYS USING GPS TECHNOLOGY
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INTRODUCTION:
Railways have come to be recognized as the safest mode of mass
transportation on account of inherent characteristics of the system. Railway
managements have zealously guarded this image over the ages. Safety has thus come to be recognized as the key issue for the railways and one of its special attributes. No railway system can survive by ignoring this vital aspect as safe and timely transit is not only significant for passenger traffic but also for transportation of materials, in todays highly competitive environment. Safety ranks highest among the factors in selection of a mode of transportation - above the cost and transit time. Accidents hurt business not only in the immediate context but also in the long run and ultimately only those means of transport flourish which are perceived to be safe. It is, therefore, the key performance index which the top managements need to monitor along with productivity. The two can not be divorced from each other and are, in fact, end products of the business activity in a transport organization which it needs to pursue to excellence.
INDIAN RAILWAYS- Building the Nation
The foremost task for the Indian Railways after independence in 1947 was to
strengthen and modernize its infrastructure not only to support the economic
development in the planned era but also to rid the system of obsolesce and poor
maintenance. 1950s were primarily devoted to pulling up arrears in maintenance of track, signaling and rolling stock besides providing small rail links to the heavy industries like steel plants that were being set up. The inputs given by the nation for renewals and restoration not only brought about an improvement in productivity but also helped bring down the incidence of accidents on the Railways to a great extent. Number of accidents on Indian Railways came down from 8481 in 1950-51 to 2131 in 1960-61. Derailments which constituted bulk of the accidents came down from 7527 to 1415 over the same period. There was also appreciable reduction in the number of collisions, although there was increase in the categories of 'fire in trains' and level crossing accidents. The unrelenting efforts of Indian Railways in strengthening the
infrastructure and modernizing it have led to substantial improvement in the safety performance in subsequent decades, which primarily forms the basis of this paper.
WHAT IS SAFETY?
Safety is basically the product of good practices at all levels of functioning i.e.
design, manufacturing, maintenance and operations. Safety is compromised when the laid down standard practices are infringed. First symptoms of deterioration in the safety performance are evidenced by the increase in the number of failures. Overlooking these warning signals can be disastrous as each of these is an accident waiting to happen. Accidents and assets failures lead to hold ups, missing of schedules and disrepute amongst the customers, which affect the business adversely. Although no technology is fail-proof, an error rate, howsoever small, being inherent in any man-machine system, reliability of the equipment is the most important factor in the efficiency and safety of a transport system. Objective of the various research organizations is to develop equipment and systems which have near zero level of failure rate. Side by side with the induction of advanced technology, it is imperative that the same is maintained properly and replacements, renewals made as and when needed. If the accidents have to be minimized, it is imperative that the equipment in use is always kept in fine fettle.
Over the last decade or so for which data is available, Indian Railways have
laid special emphasis in improving health of the infrastructure and rolling stock.
While steam traction, which was highly fault prone has been completely phased out from the main line operations, induction of modern technology and initiation of various measures have brought down the failures of diesel and electric locomotives on line to just about one third. Four-wheeler freight wagons which were primarily equipped with screw couplings and vacuum brake system have been almost phasedout. Small population of four-wheeler tank wagons that still exists is being moved in close circuits and under surveillance. All new rolling stock is being manufactured with more efficient air brake system and existing rolling stock with adequate residual life is being retrofitted to air brake in the workshops.