Congress Poses Nine Questions to PM Modi On Odisha Train Accident

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Sunday demanded Ashwini Vaishnaw's resignation after a tragic accident in Odisha that occurred on Friday.

Citing a news report by ThePrint, Surjewala asked why the rail minister was negligent towards the "critical warning" on the failure of the signalling system.

In a series of tweets, Surjewala said, "Initial News Reports suggest that Balasore, Odisha Train Crash happened owing to the failure of the signalling system. But the Railway Minister and Rail Ministry were immune to the critical warning on the failure of the Signalling System that had been given."

"On 9 February 2023, the Chief Operating Manager, of South Western Railway Zone wrote on the failure of the Signalling System by stating, 'serious flaws in the system where the route of dispatch gets altered after a train starts on signals with the correct appearance of the route in the SMS panel. This contravenes the essence and basic principles of interlocking'," he said.

Surjewala further warned that if the signal maintenance system was not monitored and corrected immediately, it could lead to "re-occurrence and serious accidents".

"Why was Rail Minister & Railway Ministry immune or ignorant or negligent," he tweeted.

"Why did recent derailment of a number of Goods Trains, where a number of Loco Pilots died and wagons were destroyed, didn't raise enough alarms on lack of Rail Safety forcing the Minister and Railway Ministry to takeappropriate measures," he asked.

"Is it correct that Rail Minister is more concerned with marketing and pleasing the Prime Minister rather than concentrating on Railway Safety? Is the Rail Minister too preoccupied with making the PM launch Vande
Bharat Trains, refurbishing Railway Stations (tweeting their pictures) and increasing revenues rather than looking at the arduous job of ensuring passenger safety?," he further asked.

"Is this the reason why the Railway Minister largely skipped the presentation on Railway Safety on 2 June 2023 in the Chintan Shivir and concentrated on the launch of Vande Bharat Trains and increased revenues," he added.

"Isn't the increased lapse of Railway Safety owing to lack of required human resources - availability of foot soldiers like Gang man, Station Masters, Loco Pilots etc? Isn't it correct that the majority of 39 Railway Zones lack the required human resource as per an RTI reply given by railways? Isn't it correct that 3,11,000 Posts of Group C are vacant in Railways thereby jeopardising the Rail Safety as also operational efficacy? Isn't it correct that 3,081 out of 18,881 Gazetted Cadre posts are lying vacant in Railways?" Surjewala tweeted.

"How is it possible to run an effective and safe operation in the absence of staff," Surjewala questioned.

"Isn't it correct that the Year 2022-23 saw 48 "Consequential Train Accidents" (train accidents having serious repercussions in terms of loss of lives, property etc.) as compared to 35 such accidents the previous year? Isn't it
correct that the Year 2022-23 witnessed 165 'Non Consequential Train Accidents", including 35 cases of "Signal Passed at Danger - SPAD'?," he asked.

The horrific triple train accident has claimed the lives of 294 passengers so far and has left over 1,000 injured.