New Delhi, March 19
After recent incidents of fire breaking out on trains and railway premises, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal directed officials on Friday to focus on remedial measures for fire hazards, identify breaches in fire safety and ensure general alertness for passengers smoking on board.
Nine people died, including rail staffers and fire officials, when a fire broke out on the 13th floor of the Eastern Railway’s office in Kolkata earlier this month. In another incident, a coach of the Dehradun-bound Shatabdi Express caught fire in a suspected case of short circuit on March 13 and barely six days later, fire broke out in the engine of a static goods train at the Ranchi station on Friday.
“Safety remains the focus area of Railway operations and no one should let the guard down on that front. A thorough review and rechecking of all safety measures in the running of trains needs to be taken up by all concerned,” the minister said at a review meeting on “safety measures”, according to a statement issued by the railway ministry.
The meeting was attended by all board members and general managers of the zonal railways.
While reviewing the safety performance, Goyal advised the officials to focus on remedial measures for safety hazards like fire and ensuring alertness for signals and crossings, the statement said.
He asked the officers to focus on the root-cause analysis of breaches in safety and advised to launch a safety drive.
Goyal directed the officials to take proactive steps towards sensitising passengers against smoking in trains and also said the erring passengers need to be deterred from causing risks to others by smoking in trains.
“Strict monitoring needs to be done to ensure that the quality of materials that is utilised in the manufacture of the coaches is of the best possible quality,” he said.
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