ACCIDENTS AND BREACHES - Accidents

Action during Accidents including Breaches

Observance of Rules –

(1) Any occurrence which does or may affect the safety of the Railways, its engines, rolling stock, permanent way, works, passengers or servants which affects the safety of others or which does or may cause delays to trains or loss to the Railway, is termed an accident. Occurrence outside the Railway limits threatening the safety of the line or trains should also be reported as accidents. For instance a flood outside Railway limits may seriously threaten the safety of the line and should be treated as an accident.

(2) Rules for reporting and joint enquiries into the accidents are contained in the

Accident Manual issued by Railways and in the Railway (Notices of and Enquiries into Accident) Rules, 1973, issued under Section 84 of Indian Railway

Act,1890.

(3) Rule 2.11 of General Rules, 1976 Edition enjoins that –

(a) Every Railway servant shall –

(i) see that every exertion is made for ensuring the safety of the public ;

(ii) Promptly report to his superior any occurrence affecting the safe or proper working of the railway which may come to his notice; and 

(iii) Render on demand all possible assistance in the case of an accident or obstruction. 

(b) Every Railway servant who observes –

(i) That any signal is defective;

(ii) Any obstruction, failure, or threatened failure of any part of the way or works;

(iii) Anything wrong with a train; or

(iv) any unusual circumstance likely to interfere with the safe running of trains or the safety of the public; shall take immediate steps, such as the circumstances of the case may demand, to prevent accident; and where necessary, advise the nearest Station Master by the quickest possible means: Provided that in the case of a train having parted, he shall not show a stop hand signal but shall endeavor to attract the attention of the Driver or Guard by shouting, gesticulating or other means.

Report of Accident to the Station Master / Railway servant in-charge of Block Hut–

(1) Engineering representative (if he is the first to reach the site of the accident) while reporting an accident to the nearest Station Master/Railway servant in charge should furnish the following information to enable the Station Master/Railway servant in-charge to issue an all concerned message:

• Station at or stations between which the accident has occurred.

• Kilometrage at which the accident has occurred.

• Number and description of the train or trains involved.

• Date and time of the accident.

• Particulars of loss of life and injuries to passengers and staff.

• Nature and cause, if known, of accident.

• Damage to Permanent Way, Works, Bridges, Overhead equipment (in case of

electrified section), signal and interlocking gear, engines or vehicles.

• Probable duration the line may be blocked.

• Whether transhipment is required and if so whether it is feasible.

• Assistance ( if any required) such as Medical assistance, break-down train etc.

(2) Acknowledgment of the receipt of message should invariably be taken from the Station Master.

Action at Site

(1) By Permanent Way and other Engineering Inspectors –

(a) Protect Train – Any engineering staff available at the site of the accident shall

assist the Guard and Driver to protect the train in accordance with the General Rules 6.03 and 9.10 (1976). The Inspector should ensure that protection has been

afforded to the train in front and in the rear, in accordance with the rules. In the case of double line, if the other line is also affected by the accident, steps shall be

taken to protect both the lines. If no infringement exists, trains must be controlled

and passed cautiously on the unaffected track.

(b) First aid and Rescue – The Inspector should arrange for first aid to injured passengers and Railway staff and rescue of trapped persons. If there is any Medical Practitioner on the train, his assistance should be obtained.

(c) Advice to nearest Station Master – After a rapid survey of the position, particulars should be sent to the nearest Station Master . In case of controlled sections, a field telephone should be got commissioned at once.

(d) Line Clear examination - If the Engineering official has reached the site and no traffic official is available he should carefully secure the line clear token or ticket and any caution order, where necessary. If the accident has occurred in a station yard, the train register book must be seized and if necessary, statement of staff concerned recorded; if line badges are in use, it should be recorded as to in whose possession each line badge was. The position of block instruments, signals, points, point levers, indicators, keys, etc. should be noted and recorded, jointly with the Inspectors of the other concerned departments, available at site.

(e) Preliminary clearing operation and preservation of clues –

(i) In all instances in which the means taken for the restoration of communication are likely to obliterate marks on the road and other evidence needed at a joint enquiry, the senior official who arrives first on the spot should carefully examine

the track, train or vehicle and as soon as possible make notes, sketches etc. and hand over the same to his superior or produce them at the enquiry. He will, when the nature of the accident is such as will involve the question of eye-sight of any

of the staff, verify ( in case of those permitted to wear glasses) that they had worn glasses at the time of the accident and had carried a spare pair of glasses with them.

(ii) In all cases of accidents, the cause of which might possibly due to sabotage, it is essential that the clearance and restoration operations are not commenced till the Police officials arrive at the site and intimate their agreement to the commencement of clearance and restoration work, after, making thorough investigations. A factual note of the conditions obtaining at the site prior to restoration work should be prepared and signed jointly by the senior-most Police

and Railway officials at the site. In the event of any difference of opinion between the Police and the Railway officials, such difference of opinion may be 

recorded on the joint factual note. This should not, however, be allowed to interfere with rendering of first aid to the injured, which is the first essential in all accidents.

(iii) In other cases, clearance and restoration operations can commence even before the arrival of the Police and it is not necessary that all the rails, sleepers and fastenings involved in an accident should be preserved, but only those, whether serviceable or otherwise, which bear wheel marks, etc., specially between the points of mount and drop. In all cases of serious derailments, these are essential for a later reconstruction of the scene and should be preserved and/or recorded by the first responsible official to reach the site of the accident, as these would be valuable evidence to ascertain the cause of the accident.

(iv) After the injured persons have been attended to and arrangements made for the onward journey of the stranded passengers, the Railway officers at the site of the accident should arrange to record the preliminary statements of the staff concerned, as any delay in doing so, might result in some facts being suppressed

or some evidence being fabricated during subsequent enquiries.

(v) In case sabotage is suspected, the procedure as outlined in clause  (ii) above should be followed. In addition it should be ascertained promptly from the C.R.S. if he would like to inspect the site, etc. before the commencement of clearance and restoration work and then action should be taken in accordance with his wishes. Before clearance and restoration operations are commenced all relevant clues, materials and damages and the deficiencies on Rolling Stock, etc. must be noted and preserved. In other serious accidents, however, the same procedure as outlined in Clause (iii) above should be strictly followed.

(f) Contacting higher officials –

The inspector should get in touch with the Assistant Engineer or Divisional Engineer, explain the position on telephone, wherever possible ; if not, he should himself organize the restoration of through running including ordering of ballast trains, requisitioning of required materials and tools and send information to Assistant Engineer and Divisional Engineer of the preliminary measures undertaken, by the quickest possible means.

(g) Recording of details and advice regarding restoration time – 

He should arrange to record the details of the accident and prepare notes on any special features bearing on its cause, which may be of help in the enquiry. He should send by any means available and relay a concise report of the accident to the nearest Station Master to enable him to issue all concerned message.

(h) Preservation of clues – He should arrange to preserve all clues to enable reconstruction of the scene of the accident as detailed 

(i) Photographs showing the details of damage to Permanent Way and Rolling Stock at the site of accident should be taken wherever necessary; in case of suspected sabotage, the photographs of the site of the accident showing the damage and possible clues should invariably be taken.

Report to the Chief Engineer –

(1) Report –

(a) the Senior Engineer at the site of the accident shall after initiating measures for restoring traffic, submit a brief report to the Chief Engineer with a copy to the

Divisional Railway Manager which will include the following particulars:

• Nature of the accident,

• Cause, if known.

• Particulars of loss of life and injuries to passengers and staff.

• Extent of damage to Way, Works and Bridges.

• Particulars of rainfall and patrolling, in the case of damage by floods.

• Steps taken for resumption of traffic.

• Probable time, when normal working is likely to be resumed.

• Whether transshipment is necessary and if so, for how long.

• Whether a diversion is necessary and if so, when it is likely to be opened.

• Details of any assistance required, such as additional staff, labour, ballast

• Trains and other Permanent Way and Bridging materials.

(b) A sketch showing important dimensions, positions of vehicles, tracks made by derailed vehicles, marks on rails, particulars of condition of track for an adequate distance in the rear of the point of derailment and any other information likely to be of use in elucidating the cause of accident should accompany the report.

(2) Remedial measures – In the case of damages caused by floods, the Divisional

Engineer should initiate necessary investigation and submit a technical report with drawings, to the Chief Engineer, detailing the remedial measures required, with the past history, if any, of the kilometrage affected, within a month of the

occurrence.

Note –

(1) Left and right are with respect to direction of Train movement.

(2) The data in Col. 2 to 25 need not be collected when the defect is obviously and indisputably on account of sabotage and/or obstruction on track.

(3) Only broken track material which is not indisputably to be broken after the accident should be included in Col. 25 and should be preserved.

(4) Col. 26 need be filled in only when there is a suspicion about sabotage being the cause of derailment.

(5) Sag extends 90 metres on either side of theoretical junction of the grade lines Col. 28 and 30.

Note –

• The point of mount should be marked station No. 0 and the stations numbered serially as (+) for measurements ahead of site of derailment and (—) for measurements in rear.

• The cross level will be measured on the left rail only as determined from the direction of movement.

• Normally measurement will be taken at station 3 M. apart for a distance of 45 metres on either side of 0 station if the cause of derailment is indisputably known, otherwise they will be taken for a distance of 90 metres in rear and 45 metres ahead of zero station.

• Where necessary measurements for Col. 3, 4 and 5 may in addition be taken at

individual sleepers

• This proforma need not be filled when the cause of derailment is obviously established as due to sabotage, obstruction on track, broken axle, and/or spring having fallen off prior to point of derailment.

• Longitudinal levels should be recorded for 300 metres on rear and 100 metres in front, in case of straights at the middle of each rail and at versine recording points on curves @ 20/10 M intervals.