Rail Safety Is Now A Priority : Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani:- The newly appointed Railway Board Chairman, Ashwani Lohani has made some remarkable statements. Lohani said the main focus area of the Indian railways, would be the safety, which is at a crucial juncture and faces an “image-perception” problem.

Lohani in a letter to employees on Monday said in the recent past, due to "certain unfortunate incidents", the Indian Railways had experienced a “serious dent”. The railway board Chairman’s letter dated August 28, also indicated at reforms in the country's largest passenger carrier. The letter of Lohani comes before the fourth derailment in 10 days on Tuesday morning.

“At this critical juncture when we are facing a serious issue with the image perception of the railways, I expect all my fellow railwaymen to pitch in wholeheartedly to set this perception right,” Lohani wrote.

Lohani, who is a former Air India CMD also made it clear that the main focus area of the public sector would be safety.

“We have to always be on our guard to ensure the highest level of safety in train operations and instill a renewed sense of confidence in our esteemed passengers. The great Indian railways has suffered a serious dent in the recent past due to certain unfortunate incidents. Such incidents often overshadow the great work that this organization performs day in and day out,” Lohani wrote.

The quality of catering, linen and cleanliness has also been identified by him. He said these areas need attention. Lohani to bring improvements in a very short time, further stressed on the need to adopt a mission mode.

“Our operating ratio needs to be brought down considerably, not only by reducing expenditure but by increasing freight loading and also finding other means of non-conventional revenue generation to achieve a spurt in revenues,” he added.

The fourth train derailment in the country in 10 days happened on Tuesday morning, where the engine and nine coaches of the Nagpur-Mumbai Duronto Express derailed between Vasind and Asangaon stations in Maharashtra following a landslide. However, luckily there were no reports of any injures.

To be recalled, 14 coaches of the high-speed Kalinga Utkal Express jumped the tracks on August 19. One of the coach crashed into a house adjacent to the track near Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district. The tragic incident claimed 23 lives and injured over 60 people.

In another ghastly incident, 10 coaches of the Kaifiyat Express train derailed in UP's Auraiya district after crashing into a dumper which strayed on to the tracks. Around 100 passengers were left injured.

In a third rail incident, six coaches of the Andheri-bound local train derailed in Mumbai on August 25, injuring six passengers.

SUPRAJA