Safety measures to prevent train accidents: Supreme Court seeks details from Centre

The Supreme Court on January 2 sought to know from the Centre about the protective measures implemented or proposed to be implemented, including the automatic train protection system ‘Kavach’, to prevent train accidents in the country.

The Supreme Court on January 2 sought to know from the Centre about the protective measures implemented or proposed to be implemented, including the automatic train protection system 'Kavach', to prevent train accidents in the country.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and K. V. Viswanathan was hearing a petition which raised the issue of safety measures to prevent train accidents. The Bench asked petitioner Vishal Tiwari to hand over a copy of his plea to the office of the Attorney General.

It said the Attorney General shall apprise the court of the protective measures which are implemented or proposed to be implemented by the government, including the 'Kavach' scheme. The Bench posted the matter for hearing after four weeks. Mr. Tiwari told the apex court that his plea raises issue of public safety measures.

Referring to the train accident in Odisha's Balasore district in June last year that had left 288 people dead, the petitioner said a protection system was launched by the government so that collision of trains could be prevented. He said lot of accidents have taken place in the past due to collision of trains.

"Is there any kind of exercise undertaken that how much financial implication will be there on the 'Kavach' system in case it is introduced on a pan-India basis," the Bench asked. "Everything has co-relation with financial aspect because ultimately the burden will be passed on to the passengers," it observed.

Mr. Tiwari, while arguing that the government was running so many projects, highlighted that life and safety of people was important. He said the government should apprise the top court about the steps taken by them in this regard.