Heart-Wrenching Train Incident

There is no denying fact the current infrastructure of railways is of British era and now has become obsolete. No improvement as per need has been seen so far. Hence, for decades, multiple accidents have been witnessed. Historical data manifested that most of the reported incidents were caused by derailment and collision at unmanned railway crossings. However, the recent most fire incident was unprecedented and resulted over 70 causalities owing to massive fire – heart wrenching and perturbing and put whole nation in a state of deep sorrow.  

Now the question emanated here is; who is to blame? Concerned authorities, government or public? In my opinion, this tragedy could have been avoided if the mechanism of monitoring and checking of passenger baggage was in-placed. Having said that, the public is reluctant and ignorant too, they prefer their ease over safety. It’s the central point where the problem lies. Many domestic fire incidents are reported at regular intervals owing to cylinder explosion at homes particularly in kitchens.  Remember, fire is very unkind! Minor negligence may result in serious repercussions. Through this reckless approach, one puts other’s life in jeopardy as well. That’s what happened in train – two cookers blew up that had oil in them, which added fuel to fire simultaneously. The ruthless fire further covered the three other train carriages within in no time. In order to save lives, many jumped out of fast moving train and couldn’t survive. This could have been avoided if the train managed to stop in time. It’s pertinent to mention here that fire needs three elements to ignite such as fuel, heat and oxidizing agent which is usually oxygen. The combination of these three results in fire. In case of train incident, these all three agents were well in place that surrounded other carriages of the train with smoke and flames flowing out through the windows. This painful incident is the negligence of both concerned authorities and general public as well. 

Now the most important question is that what steps should be taken to address these tragic incidents in near future instead of engaging in mud-slinging and number game as most of the media houses and opposition are doing. It’s a lesson learnt for all of us to cope with ignorable issues. Therefore, there is a dire need for whole nation to pay heed to this and come up with sustainable solutions. Detail risk assessment is highly recommended. Historical data is helpful to identify major causes of rail accidents such as lack of track maintenance, over-speeding, signal issues and older engines. It’s a need of the hour to upgrade railway infrastructure as millennium old system is outdated and pose serious threats to the passengers and nearby community. Hence, CPEC is the great tool to upgrade existing infrastructure followed by safety measures. If India could develop Asia’s best railway system, if Singapore could become 1^st world country in 3^rd world, if Turkey could upgrade its infrastructure to compete with modern world and if Germany who started its journey in 1950s could become fourth biggest economy and could develop state of the art railway system then why not Pakistan? What are the barricades around? Who stops development works? Same goes to China where Hyperloop trains are fastest and safest mode of transportation. All stakeholders must join hands to dig out suitable measures on emergency basis. 

Moreover, when it comes to fire, one may witness serious implication owing to carelessness. The most suitable solution is to eliminate the hazard or nip the evil of fire in the bud. Proper checking and monitoring mechanisms like in airports must be introduced to grapple the menace of fire. Secondly, there is always likelihood of incident there which can be alleviated through risk assessment. Each train carriage must have smoke detectors at suitable places, which detect smoke within no time to reflect it at control panels in engine or monitoring stations. Fire extinguishers with simple instructions must be there so the passengers can use to tackle minor fires occur due to electrical appliances. Manual call points (MCPs) or fire alarms must be there in every carriage to take appropriate measures in case of fire incident. Similarly, there are other options available such as FM-200 suppression system, a technology that reduces the temperature up to -25 Degree Celsius by removing energy (heat) without reducing the oxygen level. These all are the engineering controls. Administratively, we can restrict passengers and educate them to not take banned items like cylinders, cooking stoves and oil canister and violators must be brought to book. For regular monitoring, safety and environmental officer must be there all the time to ensure safety in all aspects that can only be happened by regular monitoring of electrical appliances, kitchen and already installed equipment for fire. These measures would definitely reap positive outcome; alleviate the level of such incidents to its maximum. Realistically, it’s not an overnight change but a gradual process but stringent measures and sincere approach is the need of the hour to harness long term benefits in terms of revenue and passengers safety. 

Can be viewed on: 

https://dailytimes.com.pk/493718/the-heart-wrenching-train-incident/

Haider Ali is young professional works as a Health Safety & Environment Officer in Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH & RC), holds a degree in MPhil Environmental Science from Government College University, Lahore. He writes on burning issues and has been involved in various projects.