Denying the existence of serious problems does not make them go away; it only aggravates them further. This lesson was learnt the hard way by Calcutta’s Metro Railway recently when one of its air-conditioned coaches caught fire between two stations, keeping passengers trapped in smoke-filled compartments and, eventually, causing some of them to sustain serious injuries as they tried to escape. This is not the first time that the Metro has faced technical and safety-related problems with varying degrees of seriousness. Engineers have revealed that modern safety measures are sorely lacking not just in the coaches but also in the design and size of the Metro tunnels themselves. And yet, these lapses have been allowed to persist. This raises grave questions of accountability on the part of the authorities. There seem to be few actual attempts — at least publicly — to take employees to task for their negligence and the rapidly deteriorating standards of safety. Given that safety is supposed to be of paramount importance in a robust public transportation system — especially in one that is regularly touted to be ‘Calcutta’s pride’ — does this not reflect poorly on the Metro Railway authorities as well as the state dispensation which seems to be aware of the risks commuters are exposed to daily? The West Bengal fire services department has issued a notice to the Calcutta Metro for the evident paucity of fire safety measures, but such action should have been taken a long time ago.

This dismal state of affairs is, unfortunately, reflected in the public transportation network of the country at large. In spite of several train accidents having occurred in quick succession in the recent past — last year, there were two major mishaps within a span of four days — Indian railway policies enacted by successive governments remain populist. For example, passenger fares are rarely raised even though the lack of funds have repeatedly compromised maintenance and development operations. If the modernization of transport is one of the ideas on which the growth of a metropolis is based, then it must be asked why the notion of efficiency — as is evident in the Centre’s grand plan for bullet trains, as well as the focus on newer, more environmentally-sustainable forms of transport — is not coupled with an intent to maximize safety. Security standards must form an integral part of the quest to modernize transport. How many more lives have to be put in danger — or even lost — before this lesson is learnt?