INTRODUCTION
There have been many serious accidents in Indian Railways in the past in which many human lives has been lost. It has been observed during these disasters that there was no proper and comprehensive disaster management plan all over the Indian Railways for expeditious, orderly, effective and adequate relief and rescue measures to tackle such disasters. This has led to severe criticisms by the general public, print and electronic media and bad image of the Railways in the eyes of the general public. Because of the advancement of technology and faster communication, the information about any accident or disaster reaches the general public and the highest authority very fast and, therefore, any delay in rescue and relief operation is highlighted immediately. Therefore, it has become very essential that a comprehensive disaster management plan is drawn by the Railways. The Ministry of Railways, Government of India, therefore, set up a high level committee for disaster management plan all over in Railways comprising of the following members :-
1.   Sri S. Dhasarathy, Member Mechanical, Railway Board – Convener
2.   Sri M.C. Srivastava, Member Traffic, Railway Board – Member
3.   Sri Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan, Financial Commissioner – Member
4.   Dr. K. Suresh, Director General/Railway Health Services  – Member
5.   Dr. A. K. Pandey, Director General/Railway Protection Force – Member
The committee has submitted its report to the Ministry of Railways in April-2003. The terms of references of the above committee are –
(a)   To review the existing Disaster Management System over IR related to train accidents and natural calamities
and to suggest improvements.
(b)  To identify the technological and managerial inputs in order to quicken the pace of relief and rescue operations.
(c)  To institute a standing arrangement with other Central Ministries, State Governments and Armed Forces to enable quick and smooth restoration operations without any legal or procedural hurdles.
In many countries, in the unfortunate event of a railway accident, relief and rescue work is not spearheaded by the Railway organization, but by the civil authorities, as in the case of road accidents/other disasters. The role of the Railway systems in these countries is restricted to clearing the track and restoring traffic after the rescue work is over.
Even in India, the various State Governments and district authorities are having their disaster management plan. For example, for the state of Orissa, Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority is the agency of the Government of Orissa to tackle disasters. Different districts of the state of Orissa are also having their disaster management plans. The State of Jharkhand and its various districts are also preparing their disaster management plans.
However, Railways have been historically handling rescue and relief operations in railway accidents and, therefore, Indian Railways has to rise to the expectations of the public. Further, significant technological advancements have taken place in the area of post disaster relief and rescue operations. Consequently, a number of state of the art relief and rescue equipments, tools and plants and innovative techniques have emerged during the last decade for quickening the pace of rescue and relief operation.
The high level committee of the Indian Railways on the disaster management plan has recommended, vide recommendation No. 14, that the details of local resources should be available in the Divisional Control Office. The committee has further recommended vide its recommendation No.15 that the disaster management plan should be available with each Division. Accordingly the present Disaster Management Plan was prepared by a committee nominated by Divisional Railway Manager, Chakradharpur.
The committee has collected various details and has analysed the various informations available to evolve effective and comprehensive disaster management plan.
This Disaster Management Plan is mainly for serious accidents involving passenger carrying trains due to any reasons.
OBJECTIVE OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN:
The objective of the Disaster Management Plan is to manage serious accidents involving passenger carrying trains effectively with a view to –
1.  Save the life of human beings
2.  Minimize the casualties
3.  Assistance to the stranded passengers
4.  Minimize the loss of national properties
5.  Restore the traffic as quickly as possible.
The disaster management plan includes the following :-
1.   Details of local resources.
2.   Quick flow of information of various disasters to the concerned persons.
3.   Action to be taken by the various authorities of the Railways at the site and in the Divisional Control Office.
4.   Check-list.
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TROPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF CHAKRADHARPUR DIVISION
The Chakradharpur Division of South Eastern Railway is spread over the following district of Jharkhand and Orissa state :-
State	District	Headquarters
Jharkhand	Singhbhum (East)	Jamshedpur
	Saraikela-Kharsawan	Saraikela
	Singhbhum (West)	Chaibasa
Orissa	Maurbhanj	Baripada
	Keonjhar	Keonjhar
	Sundargarh	Sundargarh
	Jharsuguda	Jharsuguda
	Sambalpur	Sambalpur
This Division is having 652.617 route kilometers and 1478.682 track kilometers of electrified territory and 100.577 route kilometers and 755.822 route kilometers of non-electrified territory with a total route kilometers of 753.194 and total track kilometers of 2234.504. The state wise break up of electrified and non-electrified territory is as under :-
State	Electrified		Non-electrified		Total
	Route Kms.	Track Kms.	Route Kms.	Track Kms.	Route Kms.	Track Kms.
Jharkhand	293.701	769.666	37.235	343.952	330.936	1113.618
Orissa	358.916	709.016	63.342	411.87	422.268	1120.886
Total	652.617	1478.682	100.577	755.822	753.194	2234.504
Connectivity :-
The headquarters of Chakradharpur Division is situated at Chakradharpur (CKP) which is the Sub-Divisional headquarter of Chakradharpur in the district of Singhbhum (West) of Jharkhand state. It is situated on the group 'A' trunk route connecting Howrah-Mumbai at a distance of 311.8 kilometers from Howrah station.
The nearest airports are located at Jamshedpur at 95 kilometer from Chakradharpur, at Ranchi at 105 kilometer from Chakradharpur. Durlag Airport of  AAI (no regular commercial flights are operated) is situated about 5 kilometers away from the District Headquarters of Jharsuguda from where one can reach Chakradharpur Division by rail route or road route, Jharsuguda Railway station being 202 Km. from Chakradharpur Railway station by rail route.
RIVERS:-
The following major rivers are crossed the Railway track in Chakradharpur Division :-
1.  Kharkai River between Tatanager and Adityapur stations
2.  Subarnrekha River between Kandra and Kunki stations
3.  Sona Nala between Sini and Mahalimurup stations
4.  Sanjay River between Chakradharpur and Lotapahar stations
5.  Karo River between Mahadevsal and Posoita stations
6.  Bramhani River between Panpos and Kalunga stations.
OGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF DEPARTMENTS OF CHAKRADHARPUR DIVISION
The Division is headed by Divisional Railway Manager who is headquartered at Chakradharpur station. He is responsible for operational and safety aspects. To discharge his duties, he is assisted by Additional Divisional Railway Manager and other various Branch Officers. The officers also posted at major stations such as Tatanager, Bondamunda and Dangoaposi stations. The important officers with respect to operational and safety aspects  are as follows
CHAKRADHARPUR : (STD Code – 06587)
Srl.	Designation	Telephone No.
		Railway		DOT		Mobile
		Office	Res.	Office	Res.
1	DRM	72200	72201	238026	238058	9431112034
2	ADRM	72202	72203	238199	238294	9431112101
3	CMS	72470	72471	238089		9431112343
4	Sr.DOM	72260	72261	238029	238030	9431112102
5	Sr.DSO	72266	72267	236668	236434	9431112103
6	Sr. DCM	72230	72231	238067	238085	9431112108
7	Sr.DME	72270	72271			9431112105
8	Sr.DEN(Co-ord)	72220	72221	238062		9431112110
9	Sr.DEN(E)	72226	72227	238573		9431112109
10	Sr.DEN(W)	72228	72229			9431112112
11	DEN(S)	72420	72421	238079		9431112342
12	DEN(C)	72422	72423			9431112111
13	Sr.DSTE	72280	72281	238066	238293	9431112106
14	Sr.DEE(OP)	72242	72243			9431112115
15	Sr.DEE(TRD)	72240	72241	238010	238172	9431112114
16	DEE(G)	72440	72441			9431112104
17	DSC	72250	72251	238129	238130	9431112113
TATANAGAR : (STD Code – 0657)
Srl.	Designation	Telephone No.
		Railway		DOT		Mobile
		Office	Res.	Office	Res.
1	Medical Supdt.	73476	73471
2	Sr.DEE(TRS)	73240	73241	2290105	2494586
3	Area Manager	73260	73261	2270718	2290097	9431303331
4	Station Manager (GAZ)	73266	73267	2426854
5	ADME	73270	73271
6	ADEE(TRD)	73256	73257
7	ADSTE	73280	73281
8	ADEN – I	73220	73221
9	ADEN – II	73222	73223
BONDAMUNDA : (STD Code – 0661)
Srl.	Designation	Telephone No.
		Railway		DOT		Mobile
		Office	Res.	Office	Res.
1	Sr. Medical Supdt.	76210	76211	24530755
2	Sr.DEE(TRS)	76240	76241	24500501
3	Sr.DME(Diesel)	76270	76470	24530390	24600873
4	Area Manager	76200	76201	24530629	24530624	9437047629
5	Asst. Area Manager	76202	76203
6	ADME(P)	76278	76279
7	ADSTE	76280	76281
8	ADEN-I	76220	76221
9	ADEE(G)	76248	76849
DANGOAPOSI :
Srl.	Designation	Telephone No.
		Railway		DOT		Mobile
		Office	Res.	Office	Res.
1	DMO (In-charge)	78030	78002
2	Area Manager	78060	78102
3	ADME	78070	78071
4	ADEN	78020	78021
The resources of manpower available with the Railways to tackle the disaster of serious accidents involving passenger carrying trains and their responsibility :-
1.  Divisional Railway Manager is the overall incharge of the Division and he has also responsibility for the preparation
and implementation of the disaster management plan.
2. Additional Divisional Railway Manager is the next in command who access in the Divisional Railway Manager's
activities.
3. Senior Divisional Safety Officers is the officer who leads the safety organization at the Divisional level. He has
responsibility for formation and implementation of the activities related to the safety in the Division.
4. The authority to order Accident Relief Trains/Accident Relief Medical Equipment Van, Break Down Crane at the
Divisional level is Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer/Divisional Mechanical Engineer incharge of Mechanical
Department.
Mechanical department is responsible for maintenance of Self Propelled Accident Relief Train/ Accident Relief Train and Accident Relief Medical Van Rolling stock/Breakdown cranes including rail-cum-road mobile emergency vehicle etc.
Normally, the equipments and materials of Engineering Department, Signal and Telecommunication department, Mechanical departments, Electrical (General) and Electrical (Traction) departments are kept ready in the Accident Relief Trains and the concerned departments are responsible for the maintenance of the equipments kept in Accident Relief Trains for rescue and relief operations. In Accident Relief Medical Equipment Vans, the equipments and materials of Medical, Mechanical, Electrical (General), Signal & Telecommunication and Commercial departments are kept ready and the concerned departments are responsible for their maintenance for quick rescue and restoration work.
ACCIDENT MOCK DRILLS FOR ARME/ART
The period between two consecutive turnouts of any Relief train/Accident Medical Equipment should not exceed three months. If, therefore, a relief train accident medical equipment has not been called out in the normal course during a period of three months, a practice drill should immediately arranged. In carrying out these drills, the following points should be carefully borne in mind.
i)   Every drill should be made as realistic as possible.
ii)  Arrangements regarding the drills should be kept confidential.
iii) The turnout of a relief train should be completed with all equipment and staff of all branches concerned including
the medical equipment and staff where provided and may proceed to a nearby suitable station and return.
iv) These drills should be ordered by the DRM personally and conducted under the direct supervision of an Officer not
lower in rank than that of a Senior Scale Officer.
The results of mock drills should be maintained in a special register and corrective action taken wherever necessary. The results should also be communicated to Chief Operations Manager/Chief Safety Officer.
LOCATIONS WHERE A SMALL PLANE OR A HELICOPTER CAN LAND (DURING DAY AND NIGHT) :
(A) Plane landing facilities :-
(a)  During day –
(i)   Sonari Aerodrome, Jhamshedpur (Jharkhand)
(ii)  Chhend, Rourkela (Orissa)
(iii)  Durlaga, Jharsuguda (Orissa)
(iv)  Sambalpur (Orissa)
(b) During night – Nil.
(B) Helicopter landing facilities :-
(a) During day :–
(i)   Football ground carriage colony and loco colony at Tatanagar
(ii)  Railway High School ground, Tatanagar
(iii) SERSA football ground, Sini
(iv) SERSA Stadium, Chakradharpur
(v)  Railway High School ground, Chakradharpur
(vi) RPF ground, Chakradharpur
(vii) Railway School ground, Dangoaposi
(viii) TISCO Stadium, Joda
(ix)   Kalunga Iron Works Stadum, Keonjhar
(x)    TISCO Stadium, Nuamundi
(xi)   Neheru Stadium, Champua
(xii)  ACC football ground, Jhinkpani
(xiii)  Football ground, Chaibasa
(xiv)  High School ground, Hatgamharia
(xv)   Ispat Stadium, Sector-6, Rourkela
(xvi)  Railway School ground, Jharsuguda.
(b) During night :– Nil.
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