In another major achievement for the Indian Railways, the number of accidents has fallen drastically, making the previous year of 2018-19 one of the safest for the Indian Railways in years.
With a significant reduction in the number of train accidents, especially in the number of fatal casualties, the Railways Ministry, under the leadership of Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal, has made significant progress on the safety front. As per the data compiled by the Indian Railways, the current year has recorded the lowest number of train mishaps ever in their entire history.
From accidents amounting to as high as 1130 in 1980-81, the number of train accidents has fallen to as low as 59 in 2018-19. With a reduction of more than 94.8 percent, this is the safest year for the Indian Railways in terms of transportation. Given that the Indian Railways has been well notorious for frequent accidents, resulting in unfortunate deaths, this is nothing less than a significant feat.
According to the Indian Railways data, the number of fatalities has reduced to 37 in 2018-19 from 658 in 1981-82, with a total of 94.4% reduction. Also, the injury figures decreased to 108 in 2018-19 from 1144 from 1981-82, with recording 90.6% reduction. During the same period, the globally recognized safety measure namely Accidents Per Million Train Kilometres has also displayed significant improvement. The total number of Accidents Per Million Train Kilometres reduced to an all-time low figure of 0.06 in 2018-19 from a high figure of 2.20 in 1981-82.
The year of 2017-18 has been a notable year in terms of reduction in train accidents, but this year, the joint efforts of the Indian Railways and the Central Government took this a notch higher. With continuous efforts towards safety reforms, the present statistics also present a brighter future for the Indian Railways. As compared to the year of 2017-18, this year has been much better. The number of accidents has been reduced from 73 to 59 in 2018-19, the number of fatalities reduced from 57 to 37, the number of injuries reduced from 197 to 108 and number of Accidents Per Million Train Kilometres reduced from 0.09 to 0.06.
There was a time when the Indian Railways was known more for the flaws rather than the benefits. However, under the leadership of ministers like Suresh Prabhu and now Piyush Goyal, the Indian Railways has changed for the better.
