Safety of the passengers is our top most priority: Railway Board Chairman

KANPUR: Newly appointed Chairman of the railway board, Ashwani Lohani on Saturday evening said that the safety of the passengers is on the top priority of the railways. He said that the reasons are being studied why derailments occured. Lohani who was on inspection of Kanpur Central railway station for the first time after being appointed as the Chairman of railway board was answering the questions of mediapersons on an increase in the number of train derailments in the country particularly in the Allahabad division.He said that first the safety aspect of the railways would be addressed and then other aspects would be considered.
On being asked about upto what extent the probe has reached in the Pukhrayan train derailment incident (occured last year on November 8 and had claimed over 150 lives), Lohani said that the probe is still underway by NIA and when the probe will get completed only then something could be said.
Lohani said that every possible work was being done to ensure the safety of the passengers. "We are talking to the railway staff and trying to learn their problems. We are trying to access what problems they face in their daily job. We will address the problems of the staff. I spoke to the railway staff today and learnt about their problems", Lohani said in reply to a question on an ever increase in the derailment incidents. "We are focussing on the laid down railway system. Also focussing on whether the railway manuals are being followed or not. Our focus is also on maintenance of the tracks", he added.
He defended the railway setup and said that railways despite the derailments is a very safe organisation. "Trains connect North and South, East and West. A total of 22,000 trains run in the country. It is a huge network. Some incidents of derailment cannot label entire railways to be an unsafe organisation", he said.
On being asked to give out reasons for occurence of derailment incidents one after the other, Lohani said that he cannot give any specific reason for the same and added that all the shortcomings that exists will be addressed. "We are focussing on maintenance especially of the railway tracks. We are also analysing the manpower needs and this issue will also be addressed accordingly", he said.
Defending the existing railway system on being asked about the research done by IIT-Kanpur on railway safety mission and not implemented by the railway, railway board chairman said that the existing railway system is a perfect one and that the entire setup was being operated with the inclusion of both old and new technologies.
Lohani said that inclusion of LHB coaches into the Indian Railways is a major transformational change and these coaches would replace the traditional coaches (being used now) as they are of superior technology. He also said that there is a lot of difference between the two types of coaches.