Railway Ruckus

It is amazing to note the frequency at which rail accidents ravage India, where there is a separate union government ministry for railways and where this branch of the nationalised sector is more than a hundred and fifty years old. Moreover, the railways are the single largest employer in this second highest populated country. But still five bogies of the 3008n Dn Toofan Express caught fire in the Mughalsarai-Patna section and fire fighting engines had to be brought all the way from Gazipur. Quite obviously the five compartments were gutted. And the passengers, though rescued, had to undergo untold miseries, thanks to the callousness of the railway authorities. But, in any case, the passengers themselves need to be more vigilant to avoid such accidents, as the cliche goes, 'Prevention is better than cure'.