MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3824 BY KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE AND SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 09.08.2017 REGARDING SPECIAL TASK FORCE
(a): No, Madam. There is no proposal for constituting a dedicated Special Task Force to handle rail disasters.
(b) & (c): Do not arise.
(d): There are 7 Central Training Centres and 300 recognized Training Centres on Indian Railways, (62 “Main Training Centres” and 238 under “Other Training Centres”). Out of these, 9 Zonal Railway Training Institutes and 12 specialized for Signal and Telecommunication Training Centres are functioning on different Railways to meet the safety training needs of Signal & Telecommunication and Operating staff. About 3,00,000 employees are trained annually on Indian Railways which roughly works out to 24% of total staff strength. Indian Railways spend around ` 290 crore annually on training. All safety category railway employees are given structured training as per prescribed periodicity at various stages of their career. They undergo mandatory Initial, Promotional, Refresher and Specialized training programmes. Detailed modules with periodicity and course content taking into account technological changes and operational requirement are available in all the courses. Due emphasis is laid on practical training which helps in assimilating technology transferred and skill upgradation. Safety category staff are also given training in Disaster Management with the emphasis on Relief, Rescue and Rehabilitation (three ‘R’s), Threat Perception & Emergency Response, Course on Fire Fighting & use of fire extinguishers and first aid. Therefore, at present there is no fresh proposal for opening new training institute/centre.
(e): Safety is accorded the highest priority by Indian Railways and all possible steps are undertaken on a continual basis including up-gradation of technology to aid safe running of trains. These include replacement of over-aged assets, elimination of unmanned level crossings, adoption of suitable technologies for upgradation and maintenance of track, rolling stock, signalling and interlocking systems, safety drives, greater emphasis on training of officials and inspections at regular intervals to monitor and educate staff for observance of safe practices. Safety devices/systems used to prevent accidents include complete track circuiting, provision of Block Proving Axle Counters (BPAC), Train Protection Warning Systems (TPWS), Colour Light LED Signals, Vigilance Control Device (VCD), usage of 60 kg rails and Pre-stressed Concrete Sleepers, long rail panels, better welding technology, digital types of machines for ultrasonic flaw detection (USFD), electronic monitoring of tracks using track recording cars (TRC) and portable oscillation monitoring system (OMS), progressive use of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) Coaches, Centre Buffer Coupler with Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Coaches, etc. Other measures include training of loco pilots and other safety category staff, improvement of their working conditions including proper rest and periodic medical examinations etc. Besides, periodic safety drives, inspections as per laid down schedules, patrolling of tracks, footplate inspections and safety reviews at various levels are regularly conducted to continuously monitor and improve safety aspects of the Railways.
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