Lesson no.9
In this lesson, I would like to give my opinion on railway safety. There are real cases in the world where passengers trespassed the railway and got hit by the train, or train collision. The most recent cases is the collision of two LRT in Kuala Lumpur in 25th May 2021 and it is recorded as black history for Prasarana because 213 passengers are boarded that LRT during that time and 5 of them are in critical condition.​
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There is an attachment of "Advance activity 4" news of railway safety
Train accidents is a common problem in our society, and based of the data and statistics according to the Federal Railroad Administration US, in 2014 there were 11,896 train accidents at railroad crossings, resulting in 804 fatalities and thousands of injuries over the course of that year. Trains are estimated to kill 1 person every 100 minutes. Each year nearly 1,000 people are killed in train related accidents. More than half of all railroad accidents occur at unprotected crossings.
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Two LRT collision in Kuala Lumpur Kelana Jaya Line
(24th of May 2021)
The collision happened when one of the trains, an empty carriage with a hostler (driver) suddenly moved in the opposite direction and crashed with another filled with passengers, in a tunnel near the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) station.
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The Kelana Jaya LRT trains are usually driverless and controlled from a command centre.
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Based on this cases, I can assume this is accidents occur due to negligence and human error.
There are total of 213 passengers that are boarded in the LRT, including 12 foreigners from Indonesia, the Philippines, Iran, Bangladesh, and other parts of the Middle East
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Out of 213 passengers, 130 of them was identified and the rest of them status remain unknown.
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Out of 130 passengers, 62 of them was admitted in normal wad with minor injury.
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Out of 62 passengers, 5 of them was in critical condition.
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LRT operator had compensated an immediate aid of RM1,000 (S$320) each for all of the passengers that involved in this accidents. Chairman of Prasarana, Mr. Tajuddin had been sacked after the accidents occured.
EVIDENCE ACTIVITY 4
This news article was published on 31st March 2021 and this article is about the precaution that railway operator in India take to avoid the possibility of fire accidents in the train. There are lots of precaution can be made to mitigate the railway accidents such as onboard detection systems, including wheel impact load detectors and hot bearing detectors, that alert engineers of faulty component.
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This precaution is to ensure that no fire accidents should be happen again because fire incident happen in the Bangalore-Hazur Sahib Nanded Express. Commissioner of Railway Safety given a recommendation for Railway Board in all zones to switch off charging points between 11 pm and 5 am.
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There are other cases that related to fire incidents in railway industries which is a fire incidents on a sleeper train approaching Taunton in July 1978 was caused by linen being placed near an electric heater. Carbon monoxide poisoning was the primary cause of the 12 deaths, exacerbated by the exterior doors being locked. Changes to the panelling materials used within vehicles and the facility for emergency exits reduces these risks. This was the first manifest in new ‘Mark III’ sleeper vehicles (still in use on the Night Riviera between Paddington and Penzance) and, latterly, the ‘Mark Vs’, which are used on Caledonian Sleeper services.
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In my opinion if there is fire incidents, Railway Operator can take this precaution method which is :-
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A fire requires oxygen, fuel and heat; therefore, the principal methods of reducing the risks are to:
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Reduce the availability of fuel, which includes flammable materials
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Reduce or isolate sources of heat and ignition; for example, by using fire barriers and arc shields
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Provide other risk controls where circumstances dictate, such as automatic extinguishing systems for internal combustion engines, and manual fire extinguishers in cabs, catering and passenger areas.
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