Irked over the poor response of various zonal railways on the conduct of mock drills and disaster management exercises, the Ministry of Railways has nominated the Indian Railways Institute of Disaster Management (IRIDM), Bengaluru, as the nodal agency to collate and manage data on crisis management drills across the railway network.
As part of the mandatory safety measures, the Indian Railways, which operates trains through 19 zonal railways, conducts mock drills and disaster management exercises jointly with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other stakeholders at regular intervals. A real-time accident or disaster scenario is created and the efficacy of the staff to the situation is assessed and analysed for betterment.
In 2017, the Railway Board wrote to the General Managers of all Zonal Railways that mock drills should be conducted once every quarter, during the day or night. Going by the recommendations of the High-Level Committee on Disaster Management, each division was told to conduct one full-scale disaster management exercise along similar lines as army exercises conducted once a year.
The basic purpose of deploying the Accident Relief Train with staff drawn from almost all departments is to check their preparedness and performance. While the reports on the Do’s/Don’ts, lessons learnt and corrective action taken after conducting mock drills or disaster management exercises should be sent to the Railway Board and updated on the Safety Information Management System (SIMS) application, many zonal railways failed to do so over the years, sources in the railways said on Monday.
Fifteen-day deadline
Taking a serious view of the lapse, the Railway Board directed the General Managers of Zonal Railways that the mock drill evaluation and assessment of outcome should be communicated to the IRIDM within 15 days of completing the exercise. The IRIDM would further analyse/compile the information on a centralised basis and share it with all zonal railways and other stakeholders, the sources said.
The Railway Board also instructed the zonal railways to work with the IRIDM to suitably sensitise and train private operators engaged in running and operating trains on crisis management and also involve them in the mock drill exercises, the sources added.
