A Study On Railway Accidental Claims In India

Abstract

Present study was conducted to study the causes, impacts and management of disasters in Indian Railway. In order to fulfill the
objectives of the study, the secondary data with respect to number of railway accidents, financial losses, deaths, injuries, the
causes of railway accidents etc. for last 8 years (2003-2011) was obtained, compiled and statistically analyzed. The disaster
management system in Indian Railway was studied with respect to railway disasters. The Ministry of Railways (MoR) has the
disaster management plan for management of the Railway Disaster at national, zonal and divisional level which provides the
framework for prevention, mitigation, preparedness, rescue, relief and rehabilitation through risk identification, hazard mapping,
preventive and anti-sabotage security system, crowd management plans, ‘Golden Hour’ response, hospital disaster plan, training,
technology up gradation, periodic mock drills etc. The results revealed that there are four major categories of accidents viz.
derailment, level crossing accidents, collisions and fire in trains which are caused by three major factors viz. human error, equipment
failure, and sabotage. Out of total accidents occurred in Indian Railway derailments, level crossing accidents, collisions and fire
accidents were 58%, 32%, 5% and 3%, respectively. 85% accidents were caused due to human error, whereas failure of equipments
and sabotage contributed to 5% and 4% accidents, respectively. During 2003-2011, 2297 people lost their life in railway accidents
and 6088 people got injured affecting total 8385 people in the country. Indian Railway faced a total loss of Rs. 86486 Cr. due to
accidents.