Unified train operation safety norms to be issued in next 10 days: Vaishnaw

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said that for signal failure, a unified train operation safety norm applicable to all railway zones will be issued in the next 10 days.

Talking to media persons here, Vaishnaw said the ministry initiated the process of bringing uniformity in subsidiary rules (SR) of all 17 railway zones after the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) flagged contradictions in these norms in its investigation report in the Kanchanjunga train accident that took place on June 17.

A goods train had hit the stationary Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express in the rear killing 10 people including the loco pilot of the goods train in West Bengal.

The CRS had said that differences in subsidiary rules of various railway zones regarding speed restriction during automatic signal failure led to confusion.

"We constituted a committee after discussing the matter with the CRS and initiated the work of reviewing all the subsidiary rules of all 17 zones to bring uniformity