Avoiding tragedy at Railway Level Crossings

 

 A Tragedy That Should Never Have Happened

The recent train accident at the Alapakkam railway crossing in Tamil Nadu is a heart-rending reminder of how institutional failures and human negligence can turn an ordinary day into an everlasting tragedy. The victims — school-going children with their whole lives ahead of them — perished in an incident that was entirely preventable. Among others, one aspired to be a doctor, another a civil servant — dreams now cruelly extinguished due to systemic lapses. Each child killed was a universe of potential. The pain of the parents — who saw their children off to school expecting them to return — is beyond quantification. For them, the memory of that morning will never fade, and their grief will remain lifelong. When young lives are cut short due to institutional failure, the loss is not only personal but a profound moral failure of society.

 This accident, involving a school van and an oncoming train, was not an unforeseeable catastrophe brought on by fate or misfortune. It was a tragedy foretold, shaped by a chain of preventable errors and official indifference.

The Missing Safety Mechanism: Interlocking Failure

At the core of the tragedy is the absence of a vital safety system — interlocking mechanisms. These ensure that a train cannot proceed through a level crossing unless the gate has been properly shut and locked. Their absence at the Alapakkam crossing directly contributed to the fatal sequence of events. Compounding this infrastructural failure was the deliberate falsification by a railway employee, who recorded that the gate had been closed when it was not and misinformed the station master. This wasn’t a mere lapse — it was criminal negligence, committed by someone entrusted with protecting lives.

Vicarious Liability of the Railways & the Schools share of blame

This is a textbook case of composite negligence in tort law, where multiple parties contribute to a single harmful outcome. Each is liable both jointly and severally.

The Indian Railways, a public authority and employer of the negligent staff, must bear vicarious liability. Institutions are accountable not only for what they do but for what they fail to prevent when due diligence could have averted disaster. This tragedy is not just about one individual’s misconduct but also about the absence of a robust supervisory mechanism that could have caught or corrected such dereliction.

The school authorities also failed in their duty of care. Reports confirm that the van was operating without a conductor, who could have stepped out to check if the crossing was safe. Such checks are basic safety protocol. The absence of trained personnel on a school vehicle constitutes a grave lapse and makes the school administration jointly liable with the railway authorities.

A woefully Inadequate Compensation Regime and need to invoke public law remedy

The compensation announced so far underscores another layer of the problem. The State Government has committed ₹5 lakh to each family. The Railways, under the no-fault liability scheme, must pay ₹8 lakh. But what does ₹13 lakh mean to a parent who has lost their child — a child who may have grown into a doctor, a civil servant, a teacher? No sum can be “adequate,” but compensation must be at least symbolic of the value we place on life and a sign of institutional responsibility. Currently, it falls far short.

This case should not be resolved purely through civil suits or insurance claims. This is a fit case for a public law remedy, under Article 21 of the Constitution — the right to life. The Supreme Court, in judgments such as Nilabati Behera v. State of Orissa and Rudul Sah v. State of Bihar, has held that monetary compensation must be paid by the State for the violation of fundamental rights when death or injury occurs due to State inaction or neglect. The High Court should entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) or even act suo motu to direct the payment of at least ₹1 crore per victim. This would reflect the State’s acknowledgment of its failure and its resolve to act with moral seriousness.

A Moment for Systemic Overhaul

The Alapakkam tragedy must serve as a catalyst for reform. There are thousands of unmanned or poorly managed railway crossings across India. The installation of interlocking systems and sensor-based warnings should be non-negotiable, not subject to budgetary whims or bureaucratic lethargy.

Safety upgrades are often deferred in favour of other capital projects. But the cost of delay is not just fiscal — it is paid in lives. We need a zero-tolerance policy for safety oversight, especially where children are involved.

Time to Rethink the Compensation Framework

The current compensation structure under the Railway Claims Tribunal Act is inadequate. The ₹8 lakh figure has remained stagnant and does not reflect the real socio-economic value of a lost life. Compensation must be indexed to inflation and must reflect a minimum threshold of decency in catastrophic events caused by public authorities.

Moreover, the claims process is cumbersome. Victims’ families are often left to navigate a bureaucratic maze in the midst of their grief. Automatic, time-bound payouts must replace litigation-heavy mechanisms.

Accountability of Schools and Regulatory Reforms

Educational institutions must not be exempt from scrutiny. Every school transport vehicle must be required to have a driver and an attendant, and undergo regular inspections. The District Education Officer (DEO) and Transport Commissioner must be empowered to conduct safety audits, with penalties including withdrawal of school licenses for repeat violations. The Right to Education must not become the right to be exposed to danger.

Memory Must Lead to Change

The Alapakkam tragedy will likely disappear from the headlines in a week or two. But for the families, the pain will remain eternal. For the rest of us, this must become a moral and policy inflection point. We cannot be a society that moves on without demanding accountability. Let these children not become just another statistic. Let their memory become the foundation upon which a safer, more humane system is built. We owe them that much — and more.

 

K.Kannan was a Judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court and formerly, the Chairman of the National Railway Claims Tribunal at New Delhi