The Kanchenjunga Express rail accident in West Bengal highlights the wrong emphasis placed by the railways in their operational management. Instead of concentrating on safety like investing in better track signalling equipment and installing Kavach across the railway network they are diverting funds to more visible facilities like the Vande Bharat trains which are now expected shortly in the sleeper format and also bullet trains. The present accident is also attributed to driver fatigue because of long working hours and no relief being given in between shifts because recruitment of drivers has been pending for long. Thus even now it is recommended that the Indian Railways concentrate on improving the quality of service of their existing network to provide safe, healthy and reliable services to the large mass of the population. Even in these fancy trains the speeds touted initially of 90 kmph have rarely been achieved in regular service and the present average speeds of these trains is in the region of 70 kmph no better than our Mail & Express trains of yore or even the Rajdhani trains. Thus a refocus is essential for the Indian Railways.
