Opposition Wants Vaishnaw to Quit Over Odisha Train Crash But Record of Former Rail Ministers Not So Great

Should railway ministers resign over train accidents? Politics has erupted over this question with government officials citing the dedication of rail minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in camping on the accident site over the past 30 hours, while opposition leaders are asking for his resignation.

Let us look at the facts first. Earlier, too, rail ministers have witnessed big accidents with heavy casualties in their terms. When Nitish Kumar, for example, was the minister for railways for two terms in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, a total of 1,527 deaths were recorded as a result of 1,079 accidents (both collisions and derailments) as per ministry data.

Data shows the tenure of Mamata Banerjee (who served both under Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh) saw 1,451 deaths in 893 accidents. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s term (May 2004 to May 2009 under Manmohan Singh-led government) also saw 1,150 deaths in 601 accidents.

Kumar’s term, in fact, was marred by maximum rail accidents, with 1,000 incidents of derailment and 79 collisions, followed by Mamata’s tenure that had 839 derailments. In fact, the Bihar chief minister even resigned for the Gaisal train disaster in August 1999, which claimed 285 lives.

Vaishnaw as the rail minister, however, faces his biggest challenge with the worst train accident in the last two decades. But government sources cite his constructive approach of camping in Balasore to take charge of rescue and relief efforts, rather than entering into a political fight.

“In the past, we saw that railway ministers’ actions were only limited to photo ops during accidents. People like Mamata Banerjee even played politics then. But Vaishnaw is on the spot for more than 30 hours and is tirelessly involved in rescue and other relief efforts,” a senior government official said.

Government sources further cited how all agencies were working together as part of the prime minister’s direction of “whole of government approach” unlike a silo approach in the past – Railways, home ministry and National Disaster Response Force working in cohesion. Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has also been sent to ensure coordination of medical treatment and minimise death toll.

In fact, if we look at official data, rail accidents have only come down in the last decade. From 2012-13 to 2022-23, during the terms of nine ministers (both UPA and NDA), the Indian Railways recorded 878 mishaps, including collisions, derailment, fires among others. This number is close to Mamata’s individual record in her two terms and less than Kumar’s. As compared to this, in the decade before from 2002-03 to 2011-12, the railways recorded a total of 2,147 mishaps.

The opposition, led by Mamata and Congress leaders, have questioned Vaishnaw over the absence of Kavach (anti-collision) system on this particular stretch but the facts now show that the system could not have averted the accident, government officials said.

In the present case, the distance between the Coromandel Express and the goods train was only 100 m in which the passenger train collided after wrongly entering a loop line. Kavach needs a distance of at least 600 m to be activated and is only for the main line, officials said.

Vaishnaw continues to camp in Balasore, an area where he was once posted as the district collector two decades ago. He has a good knowledge of the area and facilities available. However, the politicisation over the accident has continued with the opposition gunning for him.