Cattle may not be safe but Vande Bharat is!!

 

The Train 18/Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat express was in news again after its grand launch by the PM barely six days ago as it encountered a herd of buffalos on the track and ran them over. The nose cone of the train was damaged and images of the damaged train were splashed all over the social media. Politics also creeped in and some leaders from the opposition parties tweeted shamelessly, and gleefully, as if they were waiting for an unfortunate incident like this to run down the train and therefore the PM.

 

A bit of a déjà vu and as deplorable as it was so earlier in 2019; the first Train 18 encountered a technical snag while returning from Varanasi after its inaugural trip on 15^th February 2019. Similar negative propaganda ensued from political opponents of the government and even some industrials, notably the chief of a pharmaceutical major from Bangalore, joined the bandwagon of these cynically-antagonist traducers in decrying Integral Coach Factory (ICF), the designer and the maker of the train, Indian Railways (IR) and the ruling central government. Never mind that political compulsions had forced the train in a commercial service without any field trial which otherwise was mandatory; it does stand as great credit to ICF that the train has performed impeccably since, for more than three years. Well, I do remember some sane voices like that of Anand Mahindra who lauded the innovative effort of team ICF.

 

That the train was damaged was news, certainly, but a greater news was that it was repaired and restored overnight. As expected, these scoffers ducked, perhaps to rummage for something else to troll about till there was another case of the train hitting a cow the very next day. I do not attach much meaning to the repeated cases as it was nothing more than sheer chance. By the way, some even hinted at a ‘cow conspiracy’ but all that is better ignored.

 

I tweeted on the issue twice and as expected, many agreed, many raised queries, some gave outlandish solutions, a few questioned the design with their half-baked knowledge and a few trolled as well. Except the last, I wish to reply to all of them through this post to the best of my wisdom.

 

That said, let us check out the issue of Cattle Run Over or CRO, as we railwaymen call it, point-wise:

 

It is nothing unusual on IR. India has a huge bovine population and it is usual to have cattle moving loose without supervision all over the country. In recent years, after the politics on slaughter of bovines, the number of stray cattle without any ownership has increased, particularly in the north and west of the country.

 

I have done hundreds of footplates and experienced CRO from the cab three times. Even if the driver wished to, there was precious little he could to avoid it. Let us, in any case, not forget that trains have a legal right of way on railway tracks and everything else, vehicles and humans included, can never traverse or cross it without a specific authorization as in a Level crossing (LC) or for railway maintenance. A train driver is not supposed to stop his train merely because of a human or cattle obstruction on the track, he would whistle to alert the culprit to move away and that is it. If drivers were mandated to start braking on sighting a moving obstruction of this type, trains would not run in India, only crawl.  

 

There were suggestions about all kinds of sensors, including specific animal sensors (whatever they are!), and use of AI to detect and alert. Well, mark my words as it may seem contradictory. If the track were fenced, trespass would be more serious and perhaps these systems can be of value in alerting the driver. It is impractical and self-defeating to alert the driver on an unfenced track as the number of alerts would simply overwhelm him and cause detrimental loss of speed. Have right of way on the track and Will Not start braking on sighting a trespassing human or cattle. Period, barring some exceptions like crossing of wild animals in designated forest areas, well-known prone areas or sighting of an obstruction which can damage the train.

 

In the pre-independence period, IR did have fenced tracks at some places. IR also used to have designated simple cattle crossing spots that restricted  four-wheelers and cattle, which too have memory, followed these crossings. All this is long gone with a number of socio-economic factors in our country. Repeated division of fields has made them smaller and villagers may have their housing on one side of the track and their field or grazing ground on the other. Their fields themselves may be split by the track. Instances of cattle on the track are, therefore, frequent.

 

A whole lot of examples of European systems were talked about. Well, let us not even talk about their elevated tracks. Their non-elevated tracks for semi-high-speed, or above, are usually fenced but unfenced tracks are not uncommon. They do believe in common sense of the public which is not expected to trespass and as for cattle, they do not have stray cattle at all, their cattle usually graze in a fenced enclosure. An example of the state refusing to act as a nanny for the public can be seen in the US; thousands die trying to cross over by veering to wrong direction on their LCs, which have only half barriers in the direction of movement. As for forest areas with wild life, they have elaborate system of fencing and even overhead crossing for animals on expressways.

 

Even in Mumbai area, it is a social problem as nearly 5 people get run over every day while crossing the tracks unauthorizedly.

 

Social media designers raised hell about the design of the nose of the train which got damaged like it did. Many said that similar cases took place on the first Vande Bharat too but ICF designers ignored the lesson. While I agree that unlike a locomotive, a passenger coach is right in front, just beyond the cab, and therefore safety of passengers has to be given greater thought, it is childish to start making judgments on the design.

 

Unlike locomotives, the nose of this train cannot have an ugly cow-catcher, lest you kill its USP of aerodynamic profile and front aesthetics. The nose profile is designed and validated using advanced Computational Flow Dynamics tools and you cannot go on playing with it. The way it is designed is that the front structure, which supports the FRP nose cone, is strong enough to withstand an impact of a cattle hit; it has the opposite function in case of a collision with a rail vehicle. The FRP nose gets damaged and sacrificed and its sections can be changed easily by the depot. It is a small price to pay till IR is able to solve the problem of cattle menace in association with the state government concerned. Yes, ICF should certainly study the design further perhaps modify it to facilitate the change of nose sections more replacement-friendly. Remember, trains are designed for an operational speed and this one was designed for 160 kmph operation for which fencing is a requirement even in India and so a cattle-hit-proof design would have been sub-optimum; if the infra has not kept pace with development of the train, the fault does not lie in its design.

 

What can we do about the cattle menace? A lot! The sanctioned works for upgrade of 160 kmph speed of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah calls for fencing. This project is languishing for so long; let this mishap act as a catalyst to expedite these projects on war footing, if required by using less expensive barbed wire fencing and simultaneously sanction similar upgrades of sections on which Train 18 is likely to be run. In the short term, let us deal with the problem with empathy for the rural folks who lose their cattle. I believe we can identify the areas prone to crossing of cattle and examine if any limited height bridge or any grade-separated pathway similar to that can be accessed by them for movement of their cattle. A campaign can be undertaken in these areas to educate the rural folk about the perils of letting their cattle loose near railway tracks. A temporary but inexpensive fencing can be installed quickly using scrapped concrete sleepers, which are otherwise nearly useless,

 

As I said, a great many people turned designers and started lecturing on designs and even shouting me down. To each his own but let me take a dig at them, with no malice or offence, with the help of the bard, my granduncle, fashioning myself as the court jester Touchstone in As You Like It, "The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly".

 

I reproduce only some of them, verbatim in blue, for their value, or otherwise, but all in light-hearted banter, with my brief comment:

 

Cattle guard is the only solution. Of course, it should be designed exclusively for VB. At least the front panels won't get damaged. My comment: Damage to the front nose panel is the intended outcome in case of CRO.

 

Some of the dolts do not understand that even the conventional cow catchers get damaged (bent inwards) when the Loco hits a full grown Buffalo at high speeds. My comment: Right!! Arguing with dolts is like arguing with the dead (or for that matter alive) trespassing buffalos)

 

Modern aerodynamic designs with buffer and coupler exposed. If T18 cab face is designed like this there would be negligible impact during runovers. No need of extra effort during train failure to remove the nose cover,     and,     Some European designs. Modern aerodynamic designs with buffer and coupler exposed. If T18 cab face is designed like this there would be negligible impact during runovers. No need of extra effort during train failure to remove the nose cover. My comment: You may not agree but ICF designers are not novices and they did check this idea. Unfortunately, there are things like SOD and MMD and what looks doable in pictures is not always so.

 

It’s the material used that has been questioned, this is not the kind of material that can be called Load Bearing or what can withstand impact of 130kmph. Only solid metal can withstand the impact but it's weight (5t) will imbalance the loco, causing loss in speed during acceleration. My comment: Solid metal, indeed! 😀 Carbon composites today are stronger than metal but we are not going to experiment with such frightfully expensive option.

 

If this happened - and We All know it did - previously, then why was no lesson learnt... Why the same Material again. If u have a Scientific Reason pls share it with us. Even If u must hv this design, why is it not automated to open/shut... why Screws n Spanners! My comment: Science is meant for understanding, not trolling. Recalling Portia from The Merchant of Venice ““If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottage princes’ palaces.” 😜

 

It is not that difficult to modify a design and still look pretty. They had 2 years,    and,  That's why a better nose was required then and a better nose is required now. So one is bound to ask - 2 sal me q nahi hua. My comment: They actually had more than three, remember the first train was turned out in October 2019. Recalling the bard again, the famous line which Romeo speaks in Romeo and Juliet, “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.”

 

Fencing is not feasible for IR. In that budget, we could eradicate 25 % poverty. More importantly they should not run this train on those unfenced routes. My comment: Your concern for eradicating poverty is well appreciated.

 

You have to make cattle registration like cars. The owners of these cattle’s have private use of milk but public land use for grazing. Local authorities should have enforcement. Zilla panchayat need its own tax money like a state get 42% of central gov to handle at local gov. My comment: A novel idea for sure! 😂

 

Apart from fencing, streamlining for cattle might be a way out 🤪Like the Frecciarossa. Really draw out the nose and keep it polished, round and umm…really really small. My comment: You get my tongue in cheek award, sir, for comparing our train with this 300 kmph train.

 

Govt has to push it with full potential , babus can't do this , such things face lot of oppositions from locals. My comment: Bingo, I, a babu, agree with you!

 

If anyone slaughters cows in our country, the whole administration, and the govt would be after the person, but here Railway is slaughtering cows, animals and people as well day in and day out, but not one cares,         and,       I actually thought about the poor Bhains or buffalo and also the driver who must have been blaming himself in a social environment where killing milk giving four legged animal can lead to a maybe murder trial by a mob.  My comment: Thank God, I retired, I had slaughtered three in my younger footplating days.

 

Bull hitting Vande Bharat train is the most only bull run you will see in 2022,      and,      What's your issue with gomata? They should roam freely.  My comment: Pray, let it be only gomata and buffalos, not bulls. I too am invested in the stock market.

 

The question how could there be cattle on the track when most of them are walking through Karnataka after crossing over from Kerala,     and,    they're in a hurry showing PR stunts of 180km/hours, water glass not shaking....why all these without basic infrastructure. My comment: I am speechless.

 

Let me conclude by invoking the wisdom of my poet uncles:

Josh: Thīk to karte nahin buniyād-e-nāhamvaar ko

De rahe haiñ gāliyāñ girtī huī dīvaar ko

(buniyād: foundation, nāhamvaar: uneven, gāliyāñ: abuses. Instead of rectifying the uneven foundation, they keep abusing the falling wall)

Unknown:   Jis baat meñ itnī baat ba.Dhī, us baat meñ koī baat na thī

Jab baat pe baat aa jaatī hai, tab baat kī baateñ hotī haiñ

(A rough sense-to-sense translation: Irrelevant conversations emerge to irrelevance galore, leading to a mountain of irrelevance but we start talking sense only when it comes to a contingency)

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