On Friday, June 2, 2023, a horrific accident took place in the Balasore district of Odisha, when three trains collided with each other, killing nearly 300 people and injuring over 1000. The accident involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train. It was one of the worst train accidents in India’s history.
According to preliminary reports, the Coromandel Express derailed near Bahanaga station after hitting a goods train that was standing on the same track. The impact was so severe that some coaches of the Coromandel Express were flung into the air and landed on another track. Moments later, the Howrah Superfast Express, which was coming from the opposite direction, crashed into the derailed coaches of the other two trains. The collision resulted in a massive pile-up of twisted metal and mangled bodies.
The rescue operations were hampered by heavy rain and darkness. The local authorities, railway officials, police, fire brigade, and medical teams rushed to the spot and tried to extricate the survivors and the dead from the wreckage. The injured were taken to various hospitals in Balasore and nearby districts. The death toll rose steadily as more bodies were recovered from the debris.
Hundreds of people had gathered outside local hospitals to donate blood in the night, in a massive show of solidarity and support. About 500 units of blood were collected overnight. I salute these volunteers. I also admire everyone involved in the relief and rescue operations.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the accident occurred due to a “change in electronic interlocking”, which is a system that prevents conflicting movements of trains on a track. He also said that he has sought a CBI probe into the incident. In railway signalling, the electronic interlocking system controls the routes for each train running in a set area, ensuring they can safely run along the tracks.
Indian Railways is the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a total route length of 68,043 km, running track length of 102,831 km, and track length of 128,305 km. It transports more than 13 million passengers every day across the country. It suffers from ageing infrastructure and poor maintenance – factors often cited in accidents. While the government has recently poured millions into upgrading the system, years of neglect have left tracks to deteriorate.
The Odisha train tragedy has raised serious questions about the safety and security of rail travel in India. It has also exposed the gaps and glitches in the signalling and communication systems of the railways. The accident has shaken the confidence of millions of passengers who rely on trains for their daily commute and travel needs. It has also highlighted the need for urgent reforms and modernisation of India’s railway infrastructure.
According to a senior Railway official as reported by Reuters, “the interlocking system is supposed to be tamper-proof, error-proof. It is called a fail-safe system, even if it fails the signal will turn red and the train will be stopped. 99.9 percent there is no possibility of the machine failing but there is a 0.1 percent chance of failure, and that possibility is always there in all kinds of systems.” A fail-safe system is a system that is designed to protect against failure. However, no system is perfect and there are always potential risks associated with using a fail-safe system.
While fail-safe systems can provide some protection against failure, they cannot guarantee that a failure will never occur. One of the biggest dangers of using a fail-safe system is becoming too reliant on it. If you rely too heavily on the fail-safe system, you may become complacent and less likely to take other safety precautions. There is always a potential for human error or other factors beyond your control that could lead to a failure in the system. This can ultimately lead to an increased chance of an accident or failure occurring.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his grief and condolences to the families of the victims and announced ex-gratia of 1 million rupees ($12,000) in compensation, while the seriously injured will get 200,000 rupees, with 50,000 rupees for minor injuries.
I express my deepest condolences to the family and friends of those killed, and my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
A very sad day indeed; a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. Hope God gives strength to the families who have lost their loved ones.
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Om Shanti! May the injured people recover soon.
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It’s a horrific accident. Whatever or whoever is the reason should be corrected immediately. We are a poor country and rail system is the most trusted mode of travel and transport for us… The incident has shaken that trust. Hope, the authorities will do their best to ensure safety in the future.
Incidentally, a goods train has derailed in the same region this morning (Monday)… the reason is still not known.
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You’re right. Let’s hope that the government will make efforts to ensure safety of passengers and properties. It’s not a time to put the blame and score political points. but to fix the issues to provide safe travel to the people of this country.
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Unfortunate. Sad.
Another tragedy that has unfolded is the finger-pointing 😦
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It’s not a time to put the blame, finger-pointing, and score political points. but to fix the issues to provide safe travel to the people of this country. Let’s hope that the governments will make efforts to ensure safety of passengers and properties.
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Very tragic accident. Deepest condolences to the family members, who lost their loved ones and prayers for the injured people for their speedy recovery. This should not have happened. I believe that the governments must take every step to ensure in the train travels. It’s not a to time to score political brownies.
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You’re right, Nilanjana.
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Indeed it was tragic. But these are the only times when you feel proud of being human beings. This feeling of empathy is what makes us superior to other species.
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True, beta.
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Hats off to the government and people of the local area who put in their effort to save people.
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True. Thanks.
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You have not understood what a fail-safe system means. It does not mean a system with a low probability of failure. It means a system where failure does not amount to a larger safety risk. Consider the electric fuse. It is designed to melt and hence break the circuit if a current exceeding the tolerance flows through it. It is considered fail-safe with respect to the appliance it protects. That does not mean that the fuse will never malfunction. It can come loose etc and break the circuit on its own without the appliance overdrawing. What cannot happen is that the appliance overdraws and the fuse does not break the circuit – the laws of physics prevent that. This is what is meant by fail-safe. Fuse failing to protect the appliance occurs only if it has a manufacturing defect or it has been tampered. Similarly, pneumatic brakes of a train are fail-safe – malfunctions do occur but they always stop the train rather than failing to stop it.
Statements concerning “aging infrastructure”, “poor maintenance”, “years of neglect”, “gaps and glitches” and the like are premature until the intentional angle is ruled out, which it currently has not been. They will still be inappropriate if it turns out that the crash was caused not by sabotage but by human error. For this reason, it is recommended to refrain from criticisms until CRS releases its findings.
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Your points are well-taken. However, it seems that you did not read my post carefully. I am reproducing the related paragraph for your reference.
“While fail-safe systems can provide some protection against failure, they cannot guarantee that a failure will never occur. One of the biggest dangers of using a fail-safe system is becoming too reliant on it. If you rely too heavily on the fail-safe system, you may become complacent and less likely to take other safety precautions. There is always a potential for human error or other factors beyond your control that could lead to a failure in the system. This can ultimately lead to an increased chance of an accident or failure occurring.”
A fail-safe system is a system that is designed to protect against failure. However, no system is perfect and there are always potential risks associated with using a fail-safe system.
I have not given any verdict; however, you have jumped to the conclusion that I am criticizing CRS by probably part-reading my post.
Ageing infrastructure and poor maintenance are facts as these have been quoted as reasons in the past several rail accidents.
The actual cause of this rail accident can be confirmed only when the investigation will be complete.
Thanks for your read and your detailed reaction.
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Hi, as it happens, the paragraph you reproduced was one of the very sentiments against which I was (and am) objecting. There is no such thing as being too reliant on a fail-safe system. Such systems, wherever they exist, are meant for the heaviest possible reliance. It is those parts of the operation which are not governed by fail-safe systems (perhaps cannot be governed by such systems) which are prone to human error. It is always beneficial from the safety viewpoint to have as many fail-safe systems in the loop as possible. Replacement of a fail-safe component with a non-fail-safe component is never a recommended step in safety procedures.
Again to take the fuse example, if I have an appliance protected by a fuse, then my maintenance efforts should focus on aspects other than overdrawal since that is taken care of by the fuse itself. If on the other hand I am not allowed (for whatever reason) to use a fuse, then my maintenance has to have overdrawal as a primary focus area so that the appliance is not destroyed by it.
Hope this clarifies.
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To take another example of fail-safe vis-a-vis failure-proof (more accurately failure-resistant) system, consider the fly-by-wire in an aircraft. This is designed to be fail-safe — in case of a smaller malfunction, the system transitions from normal to alternate law and in case of a larger malfunction, from normal to mechanical control. While the probability of its failure is low, that is not the important safety feature. This is that a malfunctioning fly-by-wire cannot crash the aircraft on its own. Boeing 737-MAX as originally designed violated the fail-safe nature of fly-by-wire and led to the two infamous accidents. The fly-by-wire has now been reconfigured to again make it fail-safe.
On the other hand, the mechanical control, to which the system defaults if the fly-by-wire fails, is failure-resistant. This is achieved by making it multiply redundant — three of four sets of hydraulics or electrical circuits have to separately fail before the whole thing fails. If this does happen however then an unsafe situation results. One example is the crash featuring JAL 123, where explosive decompression resulted in all the hydraulic systems failing at the same time.
So, fail-safe systems can be relied on while failure-resistant systems need contingency plans. That the accident on 12841 happened on the former type of system is what makes it mysterious and worrisome.
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Thanks for your detailed, researched inputs on fail-safe systems.
Fail-safe systems are systems that are designed to prevent or minimize harm in case of a failure. For example, a fire door that closes automatically when triggered by a smoke detector is a fail-safe system. Another example is an air brake on a train that activates when the air pressure is lost. A third example is a lawn mower that stops the blade when the handle is released. However, fail-safe systems are not perfect and may have some risks. For example, a fail-safe system may fail to activate when needed or may activate when not needed. A fail-safe system may also have unintended consequences, which are negative outcomes that are not part of the original design or intention. For instance, a fire door that closes automatically may trap people inside a burning building, or an air brake that activates unexpectedly may cause a collision with another train. Therefore, it is important to analyze the potential failure modes and effects of fail-safe systems and to test them thoroughly before deployment and use multiple redundancies as mentioned by you. These are to reduce the probability of failure, even a six-sigma system typically strives to achieve a failure percentage of less than 0.00034%, which means that only 3.4 defects occur per million units.
No system is perfect with 100% failure-proof assurance. Even achieving a six-sigma level, requires a significant investment in training, data collection, analysis, and management, which may not be feasible or worthwhile for many organizations or projects, especially in an emerging economy like India.
The risks can be reduced by conducting a thorough analysis of the current situation, selecting the appropriate tools and techniques, providing adequate training and support, involving stakeholders in the process, and monitoring and evaluating the results.
Thanks again for enriching my article with your well-researched information.
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Yes, It is a horrific accident..
God gives strength to the family who lost their loved one.
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🙏
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