NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways has claimed that zero passenger deaths were witnessed in the current financial year, that is, 2019-20, a first in the 166-year-long history of railways.
"Safety First: First time in 166 years, Indian Railways had zero passenger deaths in the current financial year," tweeted Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. On December 6, the Delhi High Court has sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking to maintain the highest standards of safety at all railways stations across the country.
Last month, the Railway Ministry claimed that in order to improve safety, modern track structure consisting of Pre-stressed Concrete Sleeper (PSC), 60kg, 90 or higher Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, fan-shaped layout turnout on PSC sleepers, steel channel sleepers on girder bridges is used while carrying out primary track renewals.
It also said that ultrasonic flaw detection (USFD) testing of rails to detect flaws and timely removal of defective rails are carried out to avoid incidents of derailments and to improve the safety of the railway tracks.
The ministry said that apart from all this, drives and inspections at regular intervals are being carried out to monitor and educate staff for the observance of safe practices.