OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2011. A special conference of General Mangers of all the Zonal Railways focusing on ‘safety’ was convened her today. The Minister of Railways Shri Dinesh Trivedi, the Minister of State for Railways Shri Bharatsinh Solanki along with the entire Railway Board members addressed the conference and reviewed the entire gamut of safety matters zone wise.

Underscoring the significance of safety in Railway operations, Shri Dinesh Trivedi called upon the General Managers to continue to accord top priority to measures for strengthening safety in all respects. Referring to the marked improvement in number of accidents per million train kilometers, Shri Trivedi said that Railways have to look ahead and strive for zero tolerance on the safety front. The Railway Minister emphasized that the necessary safety protocols should be adhered to by all the concerned, according highest safety consciousness right down to the last man/mile.

The Minister also made it clear that no leniency should be shown to those erring in implementing the safety norms set by the Railway Board. Shri Trivedi emphasized that it is also important that the process of accidents-inquiries is completed in time and all necessary follow-up actions like fresh safety instructions, remedial measures and punishment to erring railway staff should also be completed expeditiously in a fixed time frame in order to send a strong signal to all railwaymen that zero tolerance will be shown for such incidents.

The Railway Minister further said that recommendations of accidents-inquiries should be regularly reviewed by GMs along with safety audits conducted by other zonal railway officials. The Minister pointed out that the measures adopted should be more technology driven and less dependent on human intervention.

The Railway Minister Shri Dinesh Trivedi urged the Railway Board and General Managers to look into the human aspects in case of all ranks and files so that the railwaymen feel well looked after and work hard to maintain the vey character of the Indian Railways.