In the wake of the horrific train crash in Odisha’s Balasore district, it has come to light that both passenger trains had coaches made with LHB technology, intended to safeguard against coach pile-ups. LHB coaches, named for the Linke Hofmann Busch company that designed them, are meant to stop the pile-ups of coaches in the case of accidents. They are deemed safer by the Indian Railways than the previously used coaches from the Integral Coach Factory.
At present, from what is known, Railway officials have told TNM that the SMVT Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express which was running four hours late, crashed into the already derailed Coromandel Express. Despite both trains being equipped with LHB coaches, the high speed of the SMVB-Howrah Express caused a pile-up.
The death toll in the tragic crash has increased to around 270, with at least more than 900 people injured, Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena confirmed on Saturday. On Friday evening, 17 coaches of the Coromandel Express and SMVB-Howrah Super Fast Express derailed, leading to one of the worst railway accidents in the country in the last 15 years.
Linke Hofmann Busch coaches are a type of passenger coach used by the Indian Railways. It was developed by the German company formerly known as Linke-Hofmann-Busch. The coaches are now known as Alstom LHB GmbH after the takeover by Alstom Transport Deutschland. Railway officials told TNM that, “Both Coromandel and SMVB-Howrah trains had LHB coaches. They are far safer and they avoid climbing on each other if there is a collision. But the collision happened because of the SMVB-Howrah Express's speed.”
According to a notice published by the Indian Railways, LHB coaches were introduced in 1995. The notice also says, “The first set of four Alstom LHB design coaches were rolled out in December 2002. The key improvements of this new generation passenger coach influence performance parameters of passenger comfort, safety, better availability and life cycle costs.”
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, chaired by Sudip Bandopadhay, submitted its report on Safety and Security in Railways on December 14, 2016. According to the Committee’s report, between 2003-04 and 2015-16, derailments were the second highest reason for casualties.
In 2015-16, around 84% of accidents occurred due to derailments. One of the reasons for the derailment was a defect in the track or rolling stock. Of the total track length of 1,14,907 km in the country, 4,500 km should be renewed annually. However, of the 5,000 km of track length due for renewal currently, only 2,700 km of track length was targeted to be renewed. The Committee also noted that the LHB coaches do not witness higher casualties in case of derailments as the coaches do not pile upon each other. Based on their findings, the committee had recommended that Indian Railways should switch completely to LHB coaches.