Throughout our industry trains are used to carry raw materials and
finished product to and from many of our facilities. The Aluminium Plant Safety
Blog has posted incidents involving railways. Here is a recent incident that
reinforces the importance of rail safety:
A
truck loaded with aluminium ingots ploughed through a level crossing gate
between two train stations in India early one morning during the week of July
5, 2015. Resulting in a collision and derailment of a goods train. The truck
driver died in the accident and his helper was admitted to a nearbt hospital.
The accident could have resulted in more injuries or even casualties had the
train been a passenger-carrying one. Several express trains apart from several
intercity ones pass this route every day. Some of them had to be cancelled
while others were diverted.
"The
goods train was empty and headed towards a local steel plant to pick up finished steel. Around
4.50 am, the driver spotted the truck smashing through the level crossing boom
and reaching the tracks. He applied brakes but the train ploughed into the
truck. Nearly a dozen empty wagons were thrown off the tracks. The truck was
badly damaged and aluminium ingots piled up on the tracks. Its driver was
killed on the spot," said the chief passenger transportation manager of
the local railway.
It was
immediately realized that an accident relief train would not be able to restore
the damage as the wagons had derailed and capsized (turned on their sides).
Three overhead masts were also smashed. SER adopted a three pronged approach to
tackle the situation.
"We
immediately summoned two 140-tonne cranes. With the help of these, the capsized
wagons were removed from the tracks. This operation went on till about 3.30 pm.
Restoration of the overhead wires started after this. The civil engineering
department also began work on the tracks. Fortunately, there was not too much
damage to the rails or sleepers. We expect that both lines will be restored by
late evening on Saturday. The restoration work is being supervised by the local
divisional railway manager of and heads of departments from headquarters,"
the chief passenger transportation manager of the local railway added.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog offers our sincere condolences the deceased worker's family, friends and coworkers. We also pray that the injured worker recovers fully from his injuries.
Please comment.
You offer "sincere condolences", but I feel like the headline here is in bad taste and a bit disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteI don't see where this idiot deserves respect. It's very fortunate his selfish, stupid actions didn't kill anyone else.
DeleteThe APSB apologizes that this blog post title has offended you. That was not the goal. Our goal is not to make the post about the APSB but about the incident. We hope that the reader will take away soemthing that will make them safer, their coworkers safer, and their plant safer. Thank you for your comments.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Joey. The APSB would like to state that the media article lacks information on any possible reasons for this incident. It may never be known if there was a medical condition of the driver (e.g., heart attack) or something that would have caused the driver to crash through the railroad crossing. Also, there could have been mechanical issues with the truck (i.e., brakes, steering, etc.) that prevented the truck from stopping. Thank you for your comments.
ReplyDelete