8 days before Odisha accident, Railway Board briefed House panel on its safety-first approach
Indian Railways officials assured a parliamentary standing committee on railways of their "safety first and safety always" approach and a decline in accidents from 141 in 2010-11 to just 48 in 2022-23, exactly eight days before the Balasore accident involving three trains claimed 278 lives. The officials showcased an index based on the number of accidents per million train kilometres (AMTKs), which they said fell from 0.14 in 2010-11 to 0.03 in 2022-23. The meeting on May 25 was attended by 21 of the 31 members of the standing committee.