❖ Causes of railway Accidents other miscellaneous causes.

The remedial measures for

• Derailments, preventing derailments are follows.
• Mechanical failure, Accidents at level crossings
• Human error. Out of the 37,345 level crossings existing on Indian
• Distracted pedestrians, Railways as on 31 March 2004, only 16,607 level
• Problems with the track,
crossings were manned and had gatekeepers; the rest
• Crashes with other trains and vehicles,
were unmanned and did not have gatekeepers. Only
• Accidents at unprotected railroad crossings,
14,500 level crossings had telephone systems connected
• Stalled cars on the track. and
them to the stations.
• Suicides.
Fire accidents in trains
Train fires, particularly fires in passenger trains, take a
❖ Accident Prevention
heavy toll on life and property. These fires may occur due
• Never assume a track is not in use.
to a short circuit in the wiring of the coaches, the
• Never, under any circumstances, stop on a
presence of inflammable material such as petrol,
railroad track.
kerosene oil, and gas cylinders inside the trains, etc. The
• Never enter a train tunnel or cross a trestle
following measures have been taken to avert train fires.
where you can get trapped without escape if a
Publicity campaigns
train enters.
Even though the railways have strict rules regarding
• Never drive around lowered gates. If it appears
the transportation of explosives and dangerous
the gate is stuck, find another route or call the
1- 800 numbers that is located at the crossing. materials, these rules need to be implemented more
rigorously. The railways are introducing new publicity
• Never walk down or play on a train track.
campaigns to educate the public in this regard.
• Never try to race or beat a train.
• Always look both ways before crossing a track.
❖ Method of Packing
• Understand that trains are wider than the track
Scissor Packing: Packing diagonally under a rail-seat is
they are on.
called “scissor packing”. A through packing of ballast is
• Lift your trailer jacks in the up position so your
achieved by this method. The beater is basically a pick-
• truck does not get stuck on track.
axe with one of its end blunted into T shape. The pick end
❖ Classification of Accidents in Indian railway
is used for loosening the ballast core while the blunt end
Collisions
is used for
Collision refers to one train crashing or running into
driving the ballast under the sleeper. It carried- out ina
another train or rolling stock. These type of accidents are
systematic manner by trained gang men under guidance
dreaded the most, and though they constitute only 7% of
of a capable mate.
all accidents, they are responsible for 38% of the total
Through Packing: Through packing consist of the
number of deaths. There are three major types of
following works; These are to be done systematically in
collisions, namely, head-on collisions, rear-end collisions,
the following sequence:
and side collisions. The main causes behind these
(i) Opening of Road :
collisions are failure of the station staff or technical staff
Ballast is opened out on either side of the rail seat for a
to carry out their duties effectively and failure of drivers
depth of 50mm (2") below the bottom of sleeper with
due to a communication error.
the help of shovel or wire claw.
Derailments
(ii) Examination of rails, sleepers and fastenings:
A derailments occurs when a train skids off the track
The rails, sleeper and fastenings are thoroughly
because of some obstruction or abnormality. The main
examined : Defective sleepers are removed and loose
causes of derailments are track defects, vehicle defects,
fastenings are tightened. The kinks if any, in the rail are
signalling and interlocking defects, human failure
removed by jim crowing.
including defective operation of railway equipment, and
(iii) Squaring of sleepers:
The sleepers get out of square quite frequently resulting
gauge variations and kinks. One of the rails is taken as
sighting rail and on this rail correct sleeper spacing is
marked.
(iv) Aligning the track:
The alignment of the track is normally checked by “eye
judgment”. Sighting the rail from a distance of about 4
rail length or so. Small error in the alignment is corrected
by slewing the track after loosening the cores at ends.

(v) Gauging:
The gauge should be checked and a uniform gauge within
permissible tolerance should be attempted. The
following tolerance for gauge variation including the side
wear are prescribed at the time of laying from
considerations of riding comfort provided uniform gauge
can be maintained over long lengths.

❖ Types of Crossing
i) Square crossing:
Square crossing is formed when two straight tracks of
same or different guage ,cross each other at right
angles.This type of crosssing should be avoided on main
lines because of heavy wear of rails
ii) Acute angle or V-crossing or Frog:
Acute angle crossing is formed when left hand rail of one
track crosses right hand rail of another track at an acute
angle or vice versa. This type of crossing consists of a pair
of wing rails, a point rail and a splice rail. This crossing is
widely used. This is also called V-crossing or frog.
iii) Obtuse angle or Diamond crossing:
Obtuse angle crossing is formed when left hand rail of
one track crosses right hand rail of another track at an
obtuse angle or vice versa. This type of crossing consists
mainly of two acute angles and two obtuse angles
crossings. This is also called diamond crossing.