Indian Railways has taken various safety related measures to enhance the travel experience of passengers as well as its properties. The national transporter has advised all its zonal headquarters to take formidable steps in ensuring a secure travel environment. The move will ensure safe travel of a passenger during his/her journey from one place to another.
There is a continuous trend of stone pelting-related incidents are occuring on the country’s first indigenous-built Vande Bharat Express. The railway is consistently making drives to educate the public, especially those residing nearby areas of the rail line not to throw stones on trains that could harm passengers.
On Saturday, the train number 20835 Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat Express was targeted by stone-pelters between Meramandali and Budhapank railway stations in Odisha. The Meramandali-Budhapank stretch falls in Dhenkanal-Angul Railway Section of Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur Rail Line. Due to this incident, the windowpane of the Executive Class coach has been damaged.
The area falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) zone. “Local police have also been informed about the matter. Strict action will be taken against the stone-pelters. Both the security wing of ECoR in coordination with local police are in job to trace-out the culprits,” the ECoR said in a statement.
Stone-pelting incidents on Vande Bharat Express
This is not the first time in the country that the semi-high speed train has been targeted. Similar incidents have occurred in other parts of the country. Earlier this year, soon after the introduction of Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express, the stone-pelting incident occurred near Balrampur. Due to the incident, one windowpane on the right side of coach C6 was broken.
Recently, Uttar Pradesh’s second blue and white colour train which runs between Gorakhpur and Lucknow faced its sixth stone-pelting incident which damaged the window of an AC Chair Car. However, no passengers have been harmed in any of the incidents so far. It has spent around 54 more fund utilisation in the last seven months compared to last year’s corresponding period.
Measures to enhance safety and safeguard of Railway property:-
The Ministry of Railways has taken various initiatives to provide safety to its passengers and safeguard of its properties. These are:
- Various awareness programmes including Operation Saathi are conducted regularly in inhabited areas adjacent to the Railway track to sensitise people towards the menace of stone pelting and its consequences.
- Regular drives are conducted against anti-social elements like drunkards, mischievous elements etc. in the affected section/black spots and the apprehended persons are prosecuted under legal provisions of the law.
- For immediate assistance passengers can make complaints on Rail Madad Portal directly or through Helpline Number 139 (integrated with National Emergency No. 112).
- Railways are in regular touch with passengers through various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Koo etc. to enhance the security of passengers and to address their security concerns.