The Ministry of Railways has updated and added to its arsenal of Disaster Management.
Indian Railways: In a move that can be termed as ground-breaking, the Ministry of Railways on Tuesday, May 7, decided to include video communication from the scenes of accidents in the Disaster Management protocol.
Of course, no one would ever want to resort to using the video communication system given the circumstances, but it is indeed a reasonable move.
If ever any train is involved in an accident or any other adversity, the officials from the railway telecom will establish a link for live video feed from the site as early as possible. This would not only help in assessing the intensity of the incident and expedite relief/rescue operations but preserve evidence that may be required for further investigation, said the railway sources.
In this latest step toward modernizing rescue and relief operations, the Ministry of Railways has updated and added to its arsenal of Disaster Management.
This will help in assessing the severity of incidents, expediting relief and rescue operations, and preserving evidence for further investigation.
The telecom officials have been instructed by the Railway Board to coordinate video conferencing at accident sites using suitable gadgets and machinery as a first response measure.
The live video feed will be shared with the Railway Board and Zonal Headquarters for immediate assessment.
Along with this, senior railway officers have been advised to deploy drone services depending on local conditions, with detailed guidelines provided for hiring drones from authorized service providers.
This initiative comes after the tragic rear-end collision of two passenger trains near Vizianagaram in 2023, prompting the need for better evidence preservation and disaster response mechanisms.
On October 29, 2023, two passenger trains collided in Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh killing at least 14 people and leaving about 50 others injured. Three carriages of a stationary passenger train were derailed after it was hit by another train.
As part of the investigation, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw claimed that the driver and the assistant driver of one of the two passenger trains that collided were watching a cricket match on the phone.
No evidence was, however, found after the analysis of mobile data usage of the loco pilots.
It is in situations like these that live video feeds will provide a lot of help and guidance to the rescue teams as well as the investigation teams.