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

Ashwini Vaishnaw, India's Railway Minister, finds himself in the spotlight due to his past ties with Siemens Limited, the company responsible for developing the signaling system implicated in the Kanchenjunga Express accident.

By Ayaskant Das
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Ashwini Vaishnaw | Railway Ministry and Accidents

Ashwini Vaishnaw: Minister's Former Employer Linked to Signal Failure | Kanchenjunga Express Train Accident | Photo Courtesy: ddnews.gov.in

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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).

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“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.

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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 ra

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