Bill to amend Railways Act 1989 introduced in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Aiming at preventing duplication in filing compensation claims in train accident, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda today introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha proposing amendment in the existing Railways Act 1989.

The Railways (Amendment) Bill 2014 also aims to categorise the cases of "accidental falling" from trains to enable the national transporter to ensure its liability whether there is any fault on its part.

According to railways, it is being made liable to pay compensation even when there is no fault on the part of it.

For the state-run transporter, most of the cases are arising out of falling down from trains due to negligence, carelessness and misadventure on the part of the passengers.

As far as filing compensation claims is concerned, there are cases of misuse of it as different claims against different zonal railways are being filed for the same loss or injury by claimants causing loss to exchequer.

The amendment to the Railways Act 1989 seeks to address these anomalies.