Indian train accident.....

Willsy

Thanks psfb, just what I needed to hear!

do you have any other calming stories for me?

Digital Drifter

errr... if anything happens, justice will be done, sort of

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4318994.stm


Note to Indojingai: this is what Nick was talking about.

BTW, /Statistically/ speaking, Indian trains /are/ safe given the number trundling along everyday. even if we have 1 major accident a day, given the number of trains deployed, overall you're still safe.



That's cold comfort for some. Ask psfb! :-)

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lotus blossom

this has got to be one of the biggest gripes for me about india. i sometimes wonder if i would go mad if i end up living there...

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Not all who wander are lost

Nick-H

I suppose you haven't read the Exploding Rickshaws, Indian Hotel Collapse or the Indian Swimming Pool Acid Accident threads yet, then?

Then there's British Tourists Not Allowed to Leave Airport For Two Weeks and the No Sunshine expected in Southern India This Year threads.

OK... It's a wind up

Nick-H

Since watching the film Airplane, the only time I've been frightened of flying was when I saw that there was a nun with a guitar on the same flight

I think I'd change my plans if I saw psfb getting on the train (that really is bad luck: glad you are still around to tell the tale...)

Digital Drifter: yes, the companies were fined, but the executives that ran them walked free ---and, of course, the politicians responsible have long since taken to armchairs (and lucrative board-room chairs...). IIRC correctly, it was the privatisation nobody, other than a handful of hard-liners, wanted and was done by the then dieing government who, unable to foresee re-election, did it out of spite. (I suppose there might, of course, be other interpretations... )

Lotus Blossom... It is just the way it is. In UK I jump up and down and call for the manager if I see a sharp corner that just might remotely come into contact with a child's eye; I curse impotently at the machinations of my local council in making the roads, as I see it, more dangerous to drive on.

In India I just fall down holes, cut my head open, trip over cables. I don't expect anything else. Maybe I should: maybe I should get my citizenship, and do a Sonia, getting involved in politics on a Public Safety platform! But I don't think anyone would vote for it...

lotus blossom

when i am in india i sometimes have a running mental checklist of the things that i would work on changing if i was in charge Maybe you're just what india is in need of

Nick-H

OK, so first I learn to read, write and fluently speak Tamil.

On the basis of my previous success in learning languages, that should only take about....

Oh. Better forget that plan then!

But, Nick-H beats Jayalalithaa in Polls; that's quite some fantasy headline

psfb

Unfortunately Nick I'm one of those blokes that always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - eg
Guess who was on the 41st floor of Tower #1 of the World Trade Center when Tower#2 collapsed on 9/11?
Guess who was on a Kenyan Airways 767 when it speared off the runway on touchdown and wiped out a few dozen light towers etc and sucked a couple through the starboard engine for special effects purposes?

The good thing for Nick is that he doesn't know what I look like, so he should be fine

psfb

Don't worry, you'll be fine - just as long as I'm not on your train

Anders

Please tell us about your travel plans, so we know were we should not go

Nick-H

psfb, please leave Indiamike.com ...at once!

Digital Drifter

<awed Silence>

Where ever I'm going, you're going first, in front me. After you make it to the other side, I'll follow.

th3_saint

I really don't think privatisation will do anyone in India any favours. From my knowledge the SOE's are generally bought up by wealthy foreign multi-nationals, drawing the profits out of the country, employing only a small number of local workers (comparative to the volume of profit leaving said contry) and enriching the local environment only a miniscule amount.

Ok, perhaps the safety standards are raised, but more than likely if there is no government legislation enforcing it the company will just as likely cut corners to save costs thus increasin their profit margins!

What is required is someone like Nick N who will campaign for better safety across India as a whole... Perhaps a fluent tamil speaking resident... Perhaps in conjunction with some NGO's... It would be a good start. But selling off State owned enterprises is a bad idea! Just read anything about the WTO's sanctions, The IMF and the World Bank... This is one of their techniques and They destroy economies!

...Rant mode off...

Ahem, sorry about that people.

*Continues on way quietly*

famous

I'm have been in Japan for a while and am returning to India in a matter of a month or two. The biggest train accident in recent history was just outside of Osaka in Kansai. I read reports in the newspaper that the driver of the train was speeding in order to make up time and stay on an extremely rigid schedule. I forget the exact time, but he was only about a minute or two behing. Drivers in japan are fined and sometimes removed from duty for even the slightest delays. The are instructed to speed in order to make up the time. The driver was speeding while heading into a turn and the train came off the track and went into an apartment building. I was in india in 96-97 and was there for a huge train wreck (i forget the exact location). I thought in japan, what's worse - being killed due to negligence (india), or the opposite - by tight-asses hellbent on maintaining a "professional" image. They both send shivers down my spine. I travelled on a few trains and thought that having those metal bars welded over the windows is asking for trouble. I'm not sure if other trains have emergency exits, but I only saw the two doors at either end of the car. My family contacted me after that big train wreck in india and I pointed out the figures of about 13 million riders a day. (half the population of canada!). I"m sure if we had so many people riding trains in a day, we might have some pretty big accidents. The sheer number of people guarantee that lots of people are going to get hurt. I would be interested in seeing per capita statistics on accidents. I'm sure with a billion people, acccident figures can look huge to other countries.

Nick-H

Ahem... It was a joke! I am a very lazy person, and now I am retired the plan is to become lazier!

Further more, whereas many things can be achioeved with political will, there is a point beyond which ic cannot reach. There is no point in politicians taking on safety if the people do not give a damn. Check out how many motorcyclists you see wearing helmets... Check out how many babies are properly secured in cars...