Ashwini Vaishnaw: Minister's Former Employer Linked to Signal Failure

Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Railway Minister has upheld the implementation of the indigenously developed automatic train protection system, Kavach, seemingly as the panacea for all safety-related ills plaguing the rail network across India. However, investigations reveal that the failure of automatic signaling systems and the lack of adequate training for loco pilots on what to do in the event of these failures are aspects that have largely gone unnoticed in the brouhaha that has erupted over repeated train accidents in the recent past.

CRS Report Accessed

A probe conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) earlier this month into the Kanchenjunga Express accident in Darjeeling district of West Bengal on 17 June, which resulted in at least 10 casualties and injuries to more than 60 people, has revealed that the automatic signaling system along the route – installed through a private company – has broken down several times after it was made operational around 18 months ago, thereby increasing the risk of collisions.

Incidentally, Ashwini Vaishnaw has, in the past, worked as an employee in a senior management position at this company, German multinational technology conglomerate Siemens Limited, after taking voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

“There have been 275 failures in the auto section of Katihar division since its commissioning in January 2023 till 20 June 2024 … The large number of signaling failures in the automatic section is defeating the very purpose of mobility enhancement and causing safety concerns,” the CRS report stated.

On 20 July, barely a few days after details of the CRS probe into the Darjeeling accident were reported by various media organisations, nearly a dozen railway organisations and trade unions from across the country issued a joint statement revealing that the automatic signaling system along this route was installed by Siemens Limited. The fact that this system was at fault and that loco pilots had not been trained on the course of action in the event of failures of this nature had resulted in the accident.

“The automatic signaling system in the concerned section had failed when the Kanchenjunga Express met with an accident. This system had been installed in December 2023 by a private company, Siemens Limited, which also had the Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) for it,” said the joint statement.

Signatories to the statement mentioned above include the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), the Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC), and the Labour Progressive Front (LPF).

Ashwini Vaishnaw and Siemens Experience

Documents accessed by this correspondent during the investigation for this news report amply illustrate that the automatic signaling system installed in this section by Indian Railways has been developed by Siemens Limited. As per a handbook issued in August 2021 by the Indian Railways for signal engineers, the Multi-Section Digital Axle Counters, known popularly by its acronym MSDAC, which are used in the railways for automatic signaling together with the help of optical fiber communication, have been developed by Siemens Limited.

After introducing the automatic signaling system in the Katihar Division in January 2023, the railways also upgraded a second section of this route with MSDAC last year. In July 2023, the North East Frontier Railway Zone, which covers the Katihar Division, issued a press statement that another 15 km of this section had been covered by the automatic signaling system. Other documents show that the Siemens-developed system, which has been described as a “new generation” technology for “detection of trains on track,” has been installed in several sections of the North Central Railway Zone as well.

The MSDACs introduced in Indian Railways have been developed by Siemens Mobility, the transportation and mobility division of the multinational conglomerate headquartered in Munich, Germany. As per information on the company’s website, this system calculates the vacancy of railway tracks on a certain principle of counting axles of train coaches.

“Our axle counting systems provide a modern track vacancy detection technology, forming the basis for today’s railway services. It supplies track section free/occupied status information – permitting safe, trouble-free, and efficient signaling operations,” says the section of the company’s website on its transportation and mobility division.

Ashwini Vaishnaw worked in the past in the transportation and mobility division of Siemens Limited after completing his MBA from the prestigious Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania, US. Apparently, he worked in the company in the position of Vice-President (Locomotives and Head Urban Infrastructure Strategy). As per Vaishnaw’s own admission, as quoted in the widely circulated English daily newspaper, Hindustan Times, he had joined Siemens Limited, among other prestigious companies in the corporate sector, in order to repay the loan he had taken for completing his MBA studies.

“After my MBA at Wharton, I was deep in debt. Studies in the US can be very expensive, and mine was a full-fledged MBA. I figured that it would take me a long time to repay my debt if I stayed in the IAS. So, I quit (in 2010) and worked in private companies like GE and Siemens to come out of debt,” Vaishnaw was quoted as saying by the newspaper soon after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha for the first time on a BJP ticket, with the firm backing of the BJD, which is the BJP’s biggest political opponent in the mineral-rich eastern Indian state.

It is no surprise that Vaishnaw has occupied top positions in bureaucracy, the corporate sector, and politics in India. He has a brilliant academic career. A 1994-batch IAS officer from the Odisha cadre, he graduated with a gold medal from Jai Narayan Vyas University of Rajasthan in electronics and communications engineering. Subsequently, he completed his MTech from IIT Kanpur before cracking the civil services with an enviable all-India rank of 27.

How Signal Failure Led to the Accident

Let us return to the question of how automatic signaling failure led to the accident of the Kanchenjunga Express on 17 June. The joint statement of the railway organisations and trade unions states categorically that loco pilots have not been trained on what course to adopt in case of signaling failure on these routes.

“As per the Railways’ own rules, after a new signaling system is installed, the Chief Loco Inspector (CLI) needs to give training to loco pilots on the new signaling system, including Learning Road (on the field) training. However, there is no uniform procedure across Indian Railways on how this training is to be given. In Southern Railway, a special orientation course is conducted over three days, outside of duty hours, wherein the loco pilots are given proper training. After this, they are issued an orientation certificate,” the statement says.

The organisations have said that “it was the lack of proper training about the new automatic signaling system which had been installed that led to the devastating accidents,” referring to the incident involving the Kanchenjunga Express on 17 June and an earlier accident between two passenger trains in Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh) on 29 October 2023.

Railways Dismiss Accidents as Human Errors Instead of Errors in Signalling Systems 

At least 13 passengers were killed and more than 60 injured in the accident in Vizianagaram. The railway ministry was quick to dismiss both accidents as the result of human errors rather than faults in signaling systems.

According to the statement, the training about the course of action to be deployed in case of automatic signaling system failure is not presented as a separate module to loco pilots but is provided only “during duty hours.” Loco pilots and assistant loco pilots, therefore, have remained in the dark about the new signaling system and have no idea what to do if it fails. It further states:

“When the signaling system fails, there are multiple types of forms to be issued, such as T/A 912, T/912, T/D 912, T/B 409, etc., to guide the LP [loco pilot]. This shortcut method of training and overwork of all safety categories, including Station Masters (SMs) and LPs, mean the SMs are not clear on what form to issue, and the LPs are not clear on what form to receive!”

It goes on to say that even the highest authorities in the railways are not aware of the complicated rules that are to be implemented to ensure the smooth movement of trains. The organisations have demanded accountability of ministers and officials with higher authority for the large number of “preventable accidents” in the Indian railways, resulting in deaths, injuries, and loss of public properties.

“Immediately after the accident, on 19 June 2024, at a meeting of the top railway officials of the Eastern Railway, which included the General Manager and Principal HODs, a circular was issued stating that ‘issuance of T/A 912 will remain suspended.’ But immediately the next day, on 20 June 2024, they issued a fresh notification stating that the earlier order suspending T/A 912 ‘was erroneous and it is withdrawn’!!!” the statement dated 20 July further states.

The issue of lack of clarity surrounding the forms had earlier been highlighted in the CRS report on the Kanchenjunga Express accident. Delving into the roots of this accident, the report says that a “wrong paper authority to pass (T/A 912) was issued to the crew of the goods train by the authorities. The fact that this authority didn’t mention any speed guidance for the loco pilot while crossing the signal made matters worse.”

The CRS has said in its report that the Kanchenjunga Express incident was an “accident-in-waiting”. The report also states that “seven trains that passed a defective signal showed different speed patterns”. Only “the Kanchenjunga Express followed protocol saying that loco pilots should proceed with caution, implying that there was no clarity at the ground and caused serious safety risks.”

The CRS report ended with a recommendation for speedy implementation of the anti-collision devices, Kavach, in trains across all routes to avoid accidents. As per the railway ministry, the Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protection system that is highly technology-intensive and requires safety certification of the highest order. The railways also says that it is an SOS feature that helps control trains in emergency situations by automatically applying brakes, when necessary, thereby preventing potential accidents.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha dated 24 July (See unstarred question number 429) in response to a question raised by K. Kanimozhi, the DMK member of Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu, Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Parliament that Kavach has so far been deployed on 1,465 kms of railway routes and 144 locomotives on South Central Railway zone.

He has also said that that at present, “progress of main items related to Kavach on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors” measuring approximately 3,000 kms in length is underway. So far, the railway ministry has spent Rs 1,216.77 crore on installation of the Kavach systems. It has allocated Rs 1,112.57 crore towards Kavach installation in the financial year 2024-25.

The apparent delay in installation of the Kavach systems – the initial development of the technology had commenced in 2012 through the technical research organisation of the railways, the Research Designs & Standards Organisation – and the rising numbers of train accidents have constantly earned Ashwini Vaishnaw and the Narendra Modi government, the ire of Opposition political parties. 

In the latest railway accident involving the loss of lives, on 30 July, when 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai Mail derailed in the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, resulting in the death of at least two persons and injuring at least 20 more people, the Modi government came under sharp criticism for its failure to ensure the safety of passengers.

While Opposition political parties took swipes at the government for its alleged negligence of safety in the railways, experts have cast aspersions on whether enough is being done to prevent the alarming frequency with which train accidents are taking place of late.

Former railway minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav took a potshot at the government calling the railways as “moving coffins” highlighting that an unprecedented seven train accidents were reported in the last 13 days.

“7 train accidents in 13 days! Regular train accidents are a matter of great concern. The government is not even taking basic steps to ensure safety in trains. Indian Railways has become so unsafe that before boarding the trains, passengers pray that this journey should not be their last journey. Railway coaches today have become moving coffins,” Yadav tweeted.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was also in charge of the railway ministry in the 90s in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, termed the accidents as an “unending procession of deaths and injuries on railway tracks”.

“Another disastrous rail accident! Howrah- Mumbai mail derails in Chakradharpur division in Jharkhand today early morning, multiple deaths and huge number of injuries are the tragic consequences. I seriously ask: is this governance? This series of nightmares almost every week, this unending procession of deaths and injuries on railway tracks: for how long shall we tolerate this? Will there be no end to the callousness of Government of India?! My heart goes out to the bereaved families, condolences to the next of kin,” tweeted Banerjee.

Taking a jibe at Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and his alleged penchant for resorting to optics and public relations to camouflage systemic shortcomings in the safety mechanism for train passengers, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said that at least 17 lives have been lost in three rail accidents in June and July while the government has failed to own up to accountability.

“Yet another railway accident. But the PR machine of the Fail Minister continues. In June and July 2024 alone, the Fail Minister has overseen three accidents that have cumulatively cost 17 Indians their lives and left 100s injured,” tweeted Ramesh.

Ashwini Vaishnaw Does Not Provide Actual Figures in Parliament

Experts in the rail sector are of the opinion that accidents have reduced drastically over the years even though Ashwini Vaishnaw himself has been evasive of providing data pertaining to fatalities and injuries resulting from train accidents in the recent past. He did not provide data when asked in the Parliament recently about the specific numbers of accidents that have taken place under his tenure in the railway ministry.

In yet another question in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session, Vaishnaw’s reply did not reveal specific details of accidents during the periods 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. In response to an unstarred question (See Question No. 423 dated 24 July 2024) by Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha MP Anand Bhadauriya, he chose to provide comparative analysis of figures while holding back the actual figures.

“As a consequence of various safety measures taken over the years, there has been a steep decline in the number of accidents. Consequential Train Accidents have reduced from 473 in 2000-01 to 40 in 2023-24 … It may be noted that the consequential train accidents during the period 2004-14 was 1,711 (average 171 per annum), which has declined to 678 during the period 2014-24 (average 68 per annum). Another important index showing improved safety in train operations is Accidents Per Million Train Kilometer (APMTKM) which has reduced from 0.65 in 2000-01 to 0.03 in 2023-24, indicating an improvement of more than 95% during the said period,” Vaishnaw stated in the reply.

When contacted, Sudhanshu Mani, a former general manager with the Integral Coach Factory of Indian Railways located in Perambur in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), said that the government is failing in rapid execution of safety-related projects.

“The number of accidents and fatalities have certainly reduced over the years and it has happened because of certain measures taken for decades, like elimination of unmanned level crossings, more stress on track maintenance and renewal and improvement in signaling systems etc. But going into such data today is defeatist and meaningless as technology has improved over the years and the aim today should be to move towards zero accidents. Moreover so, in today’s scenario as availability of Capex through gross budgetary support from the government has gone up multiple times. Where the government seems to be failing is in rapid execution of safety-related projects, like installation of Kavach and faster pace of track upgrades. In addition, modern tools like artificial intelligence should be used to generate actionable alerts from hundreds of near misses which happen every day but are not analysed effectively; the wherewithal in terms of digital data from data loggers and on-board computers are available but not collated for the same and are instead being used only for post mortems,” Mani, who is known to be the brain behind the Vande Bharat express trains, told The Probe.

We have sent a questionnaire to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. This article will be updated as and when we receive a response.

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