NEW DELHI: The world’s fourth largest railway network, the Indian Railways, has also registered a big increase of around 38.2% in accidents in 2021 compared to the previous year. Most such accidents were reported from Maharashtra, accounting for 19.4% of the reported 17,993 accidents. “Maharashtra reported 3,488 railway accidents,” according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The bulk of accidents come amid claims of adopting all safety measures across the railways to reduce accidents that involve negligence or trespassing of the tracks, falling off running trains and others.
The National Crime Records Bureau’s 69th edition in its latest data said: “The 17,993 railway accidents caused injuries to 1,852 people and caused deaths to 16,431 people during 2021. In 2019, 24,619 railway accidents were reported, including 1,762 accidents from railway crossings,” the NCRB data shows.
After Maharashtra, West Bengal accounted for 13.5% of total reported cases of accidents in railways in 2021. West Bengal added a total of 2,425 cases of accidents in the total count from across the railways.
The National Crime Records Bureau report shows that Maharashtra reported 2,535 deaths out of the total 3,488 rail accidents while West Bengal figures stood at 2,282 out of 2,424 cases of accidents in 2021. The striking feature is that 957 people out of a total 1,852 injured in accidents were reported from across Maharashtra alone in 2021.
"October 2021 was a cruel month as it reported 1,729 cases of railway accidents, which contributes around 9.6% of total railway accidents,” said a railway official quoting the NRCB data. According to data, a total of 11,036 persons lost their lives due to either falling off trains or collisions at railway tracks.
Other factors that added to the accidents were the fault of drivers, sabotage, signalman’s error and mechanical failures. Uttar Pradesh reported a maximum number of 575 railway crossing accidents, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 196 and West Bengal 164 accidents.
TRACK RECORD
Most accidents reported from Maharashtra, accounting for 19.4% of the reported 17,993 accidents
W. Bengal accounted for 13.5% of total reported cases
11,036 persons lost their lives due to either falling off trains or collisions at railway tracks
Uttar Pradesh reported a maximum number of 575 railway crossing accidents
The 17,993 railway accidents caused injuries to 1,852 people and caused deaths to 16,431 people during
2021
Maharashtra reported 3,488 railway accidents
Oct. 2021 was a cruel month as it reported 1,729 cases