Development of Risk Acceptance Criteria for Indian Railways

Indian railways cater to the need of more than a billion people every year. Despite the undeniable fact that Indian railways form the backbone of Indian economy, its safety records are tainted. Over the past six months alone, three major railway accidents, resulting in the loss of 193 lives, have taken place. In order to improve this situation, it is required that proper quantitative risk assessment (QRA) is done for the railways. The prerequisite of doing a meaningful QRA is the availability of a well-defined Risk Acceptance Criteria (RAC). In this approach, the individual risk and societal risk are calculated with the help of statistical data of accidents eventuated from 1990 to 2016. After computation of individual risk and societal risk, the As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) zones are plotted. The ALARP zone gives a guideline of the region of risk acceptability. The ALARP zones have been calibrated by comparing criteria of various countries that can be used in Indian context. Risk acceptability region contributes in the formulation of RAC. With this risk-based approach of QRA, an RAC is developed for the Indian railways. Finally, the Indian Authorities may use formulated and uniform criteria from the RAC developed.