LUCKNOW: What may give a chilling picture of the compromised security of train passengers, a secret test conducted at the division level has revealed that majority of materials used in berths are not fire-proof to the claimed level.
Even though there are instructions that since the materials used in coaches are already tested and certified by research and engineering agencies of the Railways, divisions need not go for independent testing, the secret laboratory test was carried out at the division level on the secret orders given by Railway Board after the New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express caught fire killing 32 people on board on July 30 this year.
The secret testing was done by a government laboratory. Highly placed sources in the Lucknow divisions of Northern Railway and North Eastern Railway confirmed such tests were done here too. The report from one of the division at least has been sent to the Railway Board, sources further confirmed.
The non-seriousness of the officials in providing safety and security in a country where trains are the main mode of transport for long distance travellers could be gauged from the fact that this is not the first time that the department had been found using material of sub-standards.
In 2006, Deccan Queen was torched in Maharashtra and it was found during test that the fire-retardant material was not of specified quality but a sub-standard look-alike. A high-level probe was ordered in the incident to substantiate the findings. This time after 32 persons were charred to death in Tamil Nadu Express, out of the seven fire-retardant items -- upholstery, curtains, Rexene, PVC flooring, LP sheet, NFTC (natural fibre thermoset composite) sheet and densified thermal polyester block used in berths -- five were sent for secret testing. Quality of the three out of these five materials were found below standard, sources said. The three materials of sub-standard quality were upholstery, curtain rods and curtain clothes, sources further confirmed.
The materials which have not been found "up to the mark" are as a routine tested by RDSO and certified by RITES, a government of India enterprise. The test was done for 'inflammability' and 'limiting oxygen index'.
The material has failed the "fire-retardancy" test, sources confirmed and added that the material could be as inflammable as any other normal material.
The sources further said that the fire-retardant material used in curtains should be catching fire only at a particular level of oxygen. But, the material could be catching fire at a level much below than that. "The findings become important because Railways, all over, use more or less the same material," said sources. Interestingly, only two out of five materials given for testing had been found of "satisfactory" level, sources said. Interestingly, officials at Railway Board refused to comment on secret testing.