'Assurances Of Railway On Kavach Appear To Be Misleading' : Plea In Supreme Court To Reopen Rail Safety Case

In the wake of the recent derailment of the Kanchenjunga Express, a fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Railways to implement the "Kavach" anti-collision system across the rail network.

The petitioner urged the Court to seek an explanation from the Railways regarding the causes of the recent train accident and specific information on Kavach system.

The application has been filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari to revive his earlier PIL, which was closed by the Supreme Court on April 15 after expressing satisfaction with the measures taken by the Railways to enhance safety. However, the petitioner has now filed a new application, urging the Court to re-open the PIL in light of the recent accident, highlighting that the existing measures are inadequate.

The petitioner stated that after the disposal of the PIL, on June 15, a tragic train accident occurred where a goods train rammed into the Kanchenjunga Express train in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, resulting in the death of at least nine passengers and leaving more than 25 people severely injured.

The petitioner stated that  "the assurances given by the Centre and the Railways, as recorded in the status report filed by the learned Attorney General for India on April 15, 2024, appear to be manifestly false and misleading in light of the latest accident."

In this regard, the petitioner requested the Court to ask the Railways to show that their previous status report was true.

According to the petitioner, it is imperative to seek an explanation from the Centre and the Railways regarding the causes of the latest accident and to obtain specific information about the Kavach system and question why the track where the accident occurred on June 17, 2024, was not covered under the Kavach system.

In the April 15 order, the Court had recorded :

"We appreciate the above-mentioned steps taken by the Indian Railways. We are satisfied that the initiation of these proceedings in public interest has achieved the purpose and the issues have been adequately addressed by the Union of India and the Railways. We have no reason to doubt that the Union of India/Indian Railways will continue to take the desired steps for modernization of the Indian Railways and for implementation of the Kavach system in a manner as may be found appropriate by the experts."

Incidentally, another train accident occurred in UP's Gonda today, due to the derailment of Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express, leaving two people dead.

Case Title : Vishawl Tiwari v. Union of India M.A NO. /2024 IN WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) 245 OF 2024