I am taking a train after almost
a year. It is a cozy journey. The seats are also berths; the travelers are eating,
talking, having political debates ; the vendors selling everything from water
to vada-pav, and the general ho-hum of the AC-3-Tier coach running at full
capacity. I marvel at the possibly unique phenomenon the Indian train journeys
are. I am also, as often before, left with several questions.
Has anybody ever noticed the 2.5
feet wide doors that mark both the entrances to the passage of any
air-conditioned coach? Of course you have, that's the door where your suitcases
get stuck as you are desperately trying to embark/disembark with a long queue
tut-tutting their disapproval right behind you. Why would you design a medium
of mass transport with bottlenecks at each end? Did the designer have a serious
bone to pick with people carrying massive pieces of luggage? Maybe somebody
dropped a 5 by 5 by 5 trunk on his/her foot. Is that a worthy enough reason to
make life tough for the rest of us mere mortals? Not only are those doors
inconvenient, they are a potential, and often, very real death trap. A coach
that carries 78 people on an average has a 2.5 feet exit at each end. After
this, there is a small lobby, where you have to take a 90 degree turn to exit
the coach fully through a (thankfully) regular sized exit. Even in regular
situations, you don't have to perform a CFD analysis to determine that it takes
an inordinately large time for all 78 people to pass through. Add to that the
panic caused in an emergency, and the ineptness of the design becomes a
life-or-death issue. I am not even sure about the reason for this design. It
seems that the purpose of the small passageway exits is to make sure that the
heat and draught don't get in. Would it be so much harder to achieve if the
size of the door was doubled? What is even more worrying is that this design
has persisted through my entire lifetime, and probably much longer before that.
Accident after accidents, an enquiry being ordered after each, no modifications
have been made to the design.
It isn't as if changes are not
made to rail coaches regularly. Just today, I was pleasantly surprised to find
several changes in the design. The guard/support staff have their own
mini-cabin at the end of the coach, the AC vents are positioned so as to be
easily accessed and controlled by each passenger on the upper berth
individually, the bathrooms show some structural modifications. Yet, this
fundamental design flaw has been overlooked for decades, despite large scale
rail accidents taking place with
alarming regularity.
I understand that our railways
are our lifeline. The ability to fit 78 people in that small space and yet have
place for each one to sleep is commendable. But at what cost? Would removing a
berth on each end be too large a sacrifice to make for safety consideration?
Are our lives that dispensable?
I am hopeful that the Indian
Railways are on the verge on experiencing a massive overhaul. Thanks to the
new, "visionary" prime-minister, China and Japan are both entering
the Indian railway space in a major way. It doesn't make me particularly happy
to see 100% FDI in Railways, but seeing the apathy of the current system,
perhaps we can call this a necessary evil. Maybe the rest of the world takes
safety somewhat more seriously than us. Let us hope the Chinese do a better job
in designing the new system (even though "Made in China" does send a
shudder down the spine) and the changes are eventually implemented throughout
the network.
No comments:
Post a Comment