TN Express Tragedy

[vapasi1]

It was painful to see another train tragedy where almost 45 people (official figure is lesser) were burnt to death within minutes. Most of the dead were IT professionals returning to Chennai after the long weekend. Wonder when basic safety can be guaranteed in the railways. Seen in the backdrop of the sacking of Dinesh Trivedi (frmr Cen Rail Min) due to "coalition politics", it makes me furious. I feel people like Dinesh Trivedi should be there in the cabinet and not bow down to pressures. He had proposed some raise in fares which could have been utilised for implementing better safety measures. Very sad!!

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-chennai-bound-tamil-nadu-express-coach-fire/20120730.htm

[KirKS]

In any other country, the PM would have resigned in shame if 18 train fire victims remain unidentified after 31 hours. That was when I last checked the news, mid day yesterday on this :(

Between 2006 and 2011, 1200 Indians died and 2124 injured in railway accidents. But not ONE minister of government was punished. That's how it works.

In the past 27 years, 277 Indians have been burnt to death in Government owned Indian Railways' fire accidents, excluding the Godhra crime.

In the past 3 decades, 353 people have been killed by Govt owned Indian Rails colliding with each other irresponsibly. No minister punished!

Over the past 3 decades, 1197 Indians have been killed by derailment of trains owned by Government of India. No famous politician died tho'.

In past 3 decades, 1068 Indians have lost lives when the Govt owned trains they were traveling, plunged into rivers/lakes. No neta died though.

And worse.. India must be the only country in the world where emergency instructions within train are not in the langauges understood by a vast majority of the people. For instance Monday's train got into short circuit in Andhra Pradesh with majority of the remaining passengers going to Tamil Nadu. I am sure there wouldn't be any emergency instruction in either Tamil or Telugu.

As a contrast, Tirupati temple displays key instructions in at least 6 languages on its board. India needs to work on signs at least.

[farfromhome]

How many of us know about the Emergency exit in trains?.Why doesn't Indian Railways issues ad's on TV about train safety and educate the public.

IMO, we never had a good Railway Minister after Madhav Rao Scindia. IMO, Nitish Kumar was OK.

[PeterGriffin]

And worse.. India must be the only country in the world where emergency instructions within train are not in the langauges understood by a vast majority of the people. For instance Monday's train got into short circuit in Andhra Pradesh with majority of the remaining passengers going to Tamil Nadu. I am sure there wouldn't be any emergency instruction in either Tamil or Telugu.

As a contrast, Tirupati temple displays key instructions in at least 6 languages on its board. India needs to work on signs at least.

Honestly, how many of us read any instructions written in a train? You could put the instructions in a 100 languages but it will not be read 99% of the time.

[KirKS]

Honestly, how many of us read any instructions written in a train? You could put the instructions in a 100 languages but it will not be read 99% of the time.

How many of us know about the Emergency exit in trains?.Why doesn't Indian Railways issues ad's on TV about train safety and educate the public.

That's the problem. Even those who have seen a gazillion emergency instruction details through our lives ask this question as to how many will read?

It's not about how many will read. It's about will it even save ONE life? Yes, then it is worth it.

What happened in TN Express is not very different from earlier fires in trains in India (except Godhra). People deep asleep, windows closed as it was raining, massive fire and people can't escape & charred to death. The biggest irony is that a fire station was just 1.5 KM away.



But friends.. fire does not spread as quickly to the level shown above in seconds. It takes time.

I just traveled last week an interstate train and know that there are 4 exit doors per each bogie/car. Plus a few more steps to cross the toilets and another 2 doors on each side. I am still having great difficulty figuring out how all the folks jammed into just one door (as I read somewhere) when they had more options?

Yes, people don't read emergency instructions during emergency like this. But it was a 3 day journey for most people. They had so much free time, that even if 3 people had read and understood how to operate in case of a fire, there was hope..

Yes, I still think India needs to work on sign lingo for emergency instructions, so that anyone can understand the key message. Our LPG cylinder in the kitchen is used by our cook daily, who can't read Hindi or English, the only two instruction languages used, on a potentially very dangerous item :(

[returning_indian]

But friends.. fire does not spread as quickly to the level shown above in seconds. It takes time.

I just traveled last week an interstate train and know that there are 4 exit doors per each bogie/car. Plus a few more steps to cross the toilets and another 2 doors on each side. I am still having great difficulty figuring out how all the folks jammed into just one door (as I read somewhere) when they had more options?

Yes, people don't read emergency instructions during emergency like this. But it was a 3 day journey for most people. They had so much free time, that even if 3 people had read and understood how to operate in case of a fire, there was hope..

Yes, I still think India needs to work on sign lingo for emergency instructions, so that anyone can understand the key message. Our LPG cylinder in the kitchen is used by our cook daily, who can't read Hindi or English, the only two instruction languages used, on a potentially very dangerous item :(

Article says that some people were left unconscious from smoke, some people went back to get luggage and were burnt alive.

Fire engines did reach the bogey and handle it, but not quick enough. More than signs (which do not mean much) we need fire alarms, fire extinguishers, sprinkler system etc. You cannot rely on people (who are already in panic mode) to do something constructive in such situation. People in panic mode with step over and kill other people.

[KirKS]

Article says that some people were left unconscious from smoke, some people went back to get luggage and were burnt alive. [/quote]

There are many versions of theories floating around.
Andhra Jyothy even went to the extent of speculating it was terror. I saw videos too. Their main reasoning was that at 100 KM+ speed, how did it not spill over to other bogies?

http://www.abnandhrajyothy.com/terror-conspiracy-behind-tamil-nadu-express-fire.html

Fire engines did reach the bogey and handle it, but not quick enough. More than signs (which do not mean much) we need fire alarms, fire extinguishers, sprinkler system etc. You cannot rely on people (who are already in panic mode) to do something constructive in such situation. People in panic mode with step over and kill other people.

Fire Engines are too late. My point is that even if 3 people were awake in a bogie of 50-70 people, they could have easily gotten all the folks out via 4 to 8 doors available in the immediate vicinity. Unless there was a massive explosion and sudden fuel spill to spread raging fire, there would have been time for people to react. 47 people dying in a bogie that usually houses 60 odd people is too high a figure of casualty, no matter how we slice and dice. I am not speculating any sabotage, but a regular short circuit fire. There's not much burning material available in the mostly iron & steel Indian rails, for fire to spread that quickly. Moreover, since it is metal mostly, most people would feel heat even when sleeping, to wake them up.

Sudden smoke is an altogether different ball game which I don't have many answers for.

[returning_indian]

never mind.

[dbs]

My point is that even if 3 people were awake in a bogie of 50-70 people, they could have easily gotten all the folks out via 4 to 8 doors available in the immediate vicinity.

The bogie doors are locked at night for security reasons. They must have tried and failed.
Alas, the security precaution led to their death.

[KirKS]

The bogie doors are locked at night for security reasons. They must have tried and failed.
Alas, the security precaution led to their death.

Are you sure about that in this case?

I travel in overnight interstate trains between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Usually, I open the sleeper class train door before seeping, around 11 PM and push my body fully out of the train moving at 70-80 KM, to enjoy the country breeze, moon & stars. Holding the bars tight with hands and leaning outside the train is actually lot of fun, particularly at turns. After 5 minutes or so, I go back and sleep.

I do that again, in the morning, usually around 6 AM. I have never seen any locking of door as such, except a small hook that can be easily opened from inside. I have done it for years now and not sure what locking you are talking about.

Yes, from outside folks can't open the door, but from inside, we can.