Regional Safety Review’ meeting held at Secunderabad

D.P. Pande, Member Traffic seen addressing at the Regional Safety Conference.  Other officials from various SCR, SWR, SR and WCR seen in the picture

Secunderabad (SC): A high-level regional safety review meeting has been conducted by Railway Board at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad, today i.e. 17th September, 2014. D.P.Pande, Member Traffic, Railway Board, New Delhi chaired the meeting and reviewed in detail the safety performance of 4 Zonal Railways – South Central Railway (SCR), Southern Railway (SR), South Western Railway (SWR) and West Central Railways (WCR).

In his key note address, Pande stressed upon the utmost importance of safety in train operations. He stated that safety can not take second place and that Railway staff shall always accord top most priority for safe running of trains. Expressing concern over the rise in number of accidents at level crossings o­n Indian Railways, the Member Traffic directed that the field staff shall quickly implement various identified solutions such as posting gatemen, providing additional warning boards/whistling boards etc. to avoid any scope for accidents at level crossings.

He called upon all the senior safety officials present at the meeting to intensity field inspections of stations and other work units related to safety and also to take necessary advance corrective action to preempt any possible mishap. He emphasized o­n ensuring that the Railway assets like wagons, coaches, track and signaling gears etc. function all right, which will go a long way in eliminating any chance of derailments. He also directed the safety organization to conduct frequent safety audits and take immediate follow-up action to rectify the deficiencies noticed.

Sanjeev Garg, Adviser Safety, Railway Board, New Delhi in his address informed that this high level regional safety review meeting is fourth in a series of such reviews being undertaken by Railway Board which were conducted at Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata earlier. He underscored the need for imbibing safety as an integral part of Railway work culture to prevent any untoward incidents. Safety in train operations is a critical pre-requisite for expanding Services and growth of Railways, he cautioned.

S.K.Agarwal, Addl. General Manager, J.N.Jha, Chief Operations Manager and S.P.Sahu, Chief Safety Officer of SCR also spoke o­n the occasion. A high level team of Safety Officers from Railway Board, Chief Safety Officers and Senior Divisional Safety Officers from all Divisions of the 4 Zonal Railways – SCR, SR, SWR and WCR participated in the meet and deliberated o­n effective strategies and action plan to strengthen Railway Safety.