Indian Railways to set up railway safety authority

The ministry of railways seeks to set up an independent railway safety authority, as a statutory regulatory body, said Dinesh Trivedi, minister of Indian railways.

The minister while declaring the railway budget 2012-2013 said that the function of the authority would be worked out in greater details, at par with international practices for passenger safety. He has also proposed the setting up of a railway research and development council at the apex level, to trigger the safety efforts.

''The commitment made in 2001 to reduce accidents per million train km from 0.55 to 0.17 has been achieved. However the target should be zero death,'' said the minister.

More than 40 percent of the train accidents, involving 60 percent to 70 percent of the total casualties occur at unmanned railway crossings.

The railways has also decided to set up Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), by the name Rail-Road Grade Seperation Corporation of India. A new board member (safety/research) will also be appointed in the railway board, alongwith the establishment of three 'Safety Villages' in cities including- Bengaluru, Kharagpur, and Lucknow.