Collision between Passenger Express and a goods train occurred due to signaling error, as per reports. 

• In the recent years many rail accidents have taken place such as collision of Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and goods train in 2023. 

Status of Railway Accidents 

• A steep decline in the number of consequential train accidents has been witnessed from 473 in 2000-01 to 48 in 2022-23. 
  • Consequential train accidents are those that have serious repercussions in terms of loss of human life or injury, damage to railway property or interruption to rail traffic.

Major causes of Rail Accidents 

• Derailments: E.g., Bikaner-Guwahati Express derailment in 2022.
• Unmanned Railway Crossings: Second major cause of rail accidents after derailments.
• Other: Fire incidents in trains (e.g. short circuiting in electrical wirings), Signaling Errors (By local pilots), etc.

Measures taken for Safety 

• KAVACH, an Automatic Train Protection system prevents trains from passing the Red signal along with activating automatic train braking system. 
• Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) for replacement/renewal/upgradation of critical safety assets.
• Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems, computer based system that prevents more than one train from running on the same track.