Authorities ignored Dehradun-Varanasi Express’ SOS on brake power?

NEW DELHI: 34 lives could have been saved if railways, according to loco drivers association, would have done proper maintenance of train and rail authorities would have listened to the driver’s complaint of poor brake power at two stations before the Dehradun-Varanasi Express met with an accident near Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
Even railways officials, on condition of anonymity, admit that there are lapses in maintenance of the trains as primary maintenance certificates are given for round trip while the train should be inspected after every single trip.
Though railways have maintained that prima-facie cause of the derailment was overshooting of the signal by the loco driver, Indian Railway Loco Running Men Organisation (IRLRO)'s Sanjay Pandhi said the drivers Paras Nath Sharma and Subhash Kumar complained to station masters at stations—Nigohan and Shri Rajnagar about poor brake power of the train.
“The train should have been immediately stopped and got fully inspected. But the authorities under pressure to run the train, avoid delays and to cut costs have been skipping primary maintenance and carriage and wagon department give brake power certificate,” alleged Pandhi, claiming that he talked to both loco pilots after the accident.
He added, “It was not brake fail, but train was not under control due to poor brake power. Short-cut has become the habit in railways. Trains with poor brake power are often run under pressure.” An official said the driver apparently applied the brake but the train did not stop and rammed into a sand hump at Bachhrawan which is a single line station at speed of 70 kmph.
Expressing concern over the incident, railway minister Suresh Prabhu has ordered an inquiry by the commissioner railway safety (CRS). Junior minister Manoj Sinha rushed to the accident site.
Members in Rajya Sabha also raised serious concern over the accident and emphasized that government's priority should be to ensure passenger safety rather than talking about running bullet trains. According to railways data, the number of accidents has increased to 130 this year and around 250 people has already lost their lives excluding the Rae Bareli accident. The data also include accidents at level crossings in which major casualty are road users.