Train accidents: SC seeks report on KAVACH from Centre

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday sought a report from the Centre about the protective measures the government had taken to prevent train accidents in the country. This includes precautionary actions implemented or proposed to be implemented, including the automatic train protection system KAVACH.

The bench, consisting of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan was hearing a petition which raised the issue of safety measures to prevent train accidents, submitted by Vishal Tiwari. 

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 collisions of trains could be prevented. A lot of accidents have taken place in the past due to collisions of trains, said the petitioner.

"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 a co-relation with financial aspect because ultimately the burden will be passed on to the passengers," it observed.

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

The plea has sought directions to the Centre to set up an expert commission headed by a retired judge of the apex court and consisting of technical members to analyse and review the risk and safety parameters in the railway system and to suggest systematic safety modifications for strengthening the safety mechanism and submit its report to the court.

It claimed that non-implementation of the KAVACH system at the earliest has resulted in a massive loss of life and damage to public property which imputes direct liability of gross negligence and breach of duty of care by respondent authorities. It has also sought the issuance of guidelines for the implementation of the KAVACH system in Indian Railways with immediate effect.

The plea sought specific directions to the government for the enforcement of the Railway Accidents Protective measures and to strengthen such measures to avoid accidents in the future and safeguard the fundamental right of life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Referring to train accidents that have taken place in the country in the last three decades, it said authorities have been slow in providing redress in developing a safety enforcement mechanism against such collisions and accidents. "The enforcement of safety mechanisms of train protection system is still not done at ground level throughout the country as it has been proven that KAVACH, which is an Automatic Train Protection System, was still not applied on this route", the plea said.

The plea said there was an absolute necessity of installing the KAVACH protection system at the earliest without which no train movement should continue.

The petition was filed days after the crash involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying around 2,500 passengers, and a goods train occurred in June last year near Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore.