 Hello and welcome to news click. The train accident in Odisha's Balasore district has left 275 people dead and 1100 injured. The heart-wrenching visuals of the accident has shook the conscience of the country and people are rightly asking for fixing the responsibility. The popping out details suggest that there was a signalling failure which sent Coromandel Express into loop line where it collided with a freight train. There are also structural issues of lack of safety staff, slow progress in track renewal among other things. We have today C.K. James, his secretary all India loco running staff association affiliated to C2. Sir, thank you for talking to news click. How would you explain the current accident where three trains have collided? The officials are suggesting that there was a signalling failure. I mean, how would you explain it? After the explanation given by the railways, the point was supposed to be set to the main line but because of wrong wearing, happened during maintenance work immediately before the accident. This point was set to loop line and the Coromandel Express was diverted and it collided with the freight train which was stable to there and now after the statement of the railway minister, it is coming evident that a failure of a man can cause a serious accident like this. This is not the standard we expected from the railways. Railways are being considered as the safest mode of transport when compared to road, rain or seaways because there were multi-layer safety securing system in railways earlier. Because of technical advancement, this responsibility is now given to the technical gadgets. If any failure comes in the gadgets, there is nobody to see it. That is the problem coming. When the speed is increasing, the gravity and the consequences of the accidents are increasing. So the railway should take a serious step to ensure a safety such a single man failure should not cause such a serious accident such as the standard of safety must be needed to be increased in the railways. Say for example, I am a locomotive in it, when the speed is increasing, load is increasing, number of passengers are increasing, then the duty of it must be reduced like that. We cannot continue the same rules which we are having in the steam era when the number of passengers was 10 or 12 and the number of passengers were less than 300, 400 like that. Right. So I mean the thing is there have been questions over lack of safety staff and then there was question of slow progress in track renewal. So as a workman, as a person working on the ground, how would you explain it? I mean how does it affect workers like you on the ground? Work pressure is increasing. That is we are always complaining and we are struggling for that. Even in the escalation system, whenever there is modification is coming, considering that modification, they say there is no need for staff. When the staff is being reduced, when auto-motor is coming, whenever an automatic system fails, the number of staff required will be much more than normal working. But there is nobody. These are the issues prevailing in railways. When the traffic is increasing manifold, but the number of staff is reducing in the reverse proportion. That is a system continuing many years and railway is trying to act as a commercial institution. So the prime motive of every officer is to reduce the expenditure. By reducing expenditure, staffs are being reduced. Maintenance allocation is being reduced. And maintenance awareness is being reduced. Even the training of the employees are also being curtailed. I joined in the year 1986. In that time, I was recruited as a diesel assistant. There was only one type of locomotive. Say the nomination WD2. The training period offered to us was one year. And now there are 17 types of locomotives are there. But the training period is curtailed to three months. There was also a question regarding privatization. People are suggesting that the desire to cut costs and move towards privatization is also affecting railways. What's your experience? Definitely it is there. Even the signal system. Now the signal system is being designed by private parties. After approval of the decision, that being installed by the private parties. And they are also given contract for maintaining for ANC in that way it is going on. Even in locomotives, in a single locomotive, the equipments are given from 100 million to private parties. Private extension is going on everywhere. Sometimes there is a very short range of staff to supervise all these works. That is also having an impact on safety. That is what is happening in the signal system also. Right. How the workers of efficiency have been compromised as far as this pattern of taking longer hours of work from workers are concerned. How does it affect other departments? Can you share your experience? We have fought for this limit for working in a ways and we are having some rules. There is a maximum limit of toilets for working. But it is not limiting that toilets. They are forcing the people to work even more. Two months before there was an accident in the Velaspur division of East-South-Eastern Railway where a locomotive who was working for 14 hours and 20 minutes to the end of the night. And he has slept at the home signal and passed this platform and collided with a stationary goods train. And the driver of that stationary goods train was killed. In the same way that such things are happening everywhere. There are people working for 24 hours and even more. Even station workers are working for round the clock. That is the system now in railway study week. Because there is no sufficient people in station if somebody wants to leave. That mission says you take extra duty and adjust yourself. In that way the system is going everywhere. This overworking is an issue in railways everywhere. Thank you sir. Thank you for talking to Newsclick. Stay tuned with Newsclick for other updates.