Test case 1 (Fire in metro rail) : It was an incident of fire in metro rail of the metropolitan city Sidben.
19:02 : Trip of electrical connection near Masco station, suffocating black smoke was spreading rapidly inside the tunnel of metro rail.
19:03: The information was given to the fire brigade and police. The helpless passengers were trapped inside the locked and fully packed metro rail compartments; they were traumatized; it was a horrific experience; the time lasted for 55 minutes; the passengers tried to escape from the locked compartments by breaking glass windows but could not be successful; some passengers were injured in stampede; they called metro rail helpline, the public address system did not work; a passenger broke her leg; the metro rail boards and the state governments were involved in blame game; the metro rail board set up a committee. The metro rail wrecks are in dangerous conditions; there was no proper maintenance; anything from the rail compartment falling on the rail track might cause fire.
19:05: The metro rail employees started extinguishing fire by spraying water.
19: 14 : The electrical supply was disconnected in third rail.
19: 20 : The emergency rescue operation started.
19:55 : The rescue operation ended.
Deep analytics raised a set of important issues on the aforesaid accident in metro rail:
Was the disaster management team ready to control the situation? What was the composition of disaster management team: NDRF, NSG and the employees of metro rail?
What was the response time in such type of disaster? What are the devices and equipments available: jacket, gas mask, oxygen cylinders or anything else?
What were the fire protection strategies? Can the employees of rail stations tackle small fire incidents? Can the fire brigade tackle major fire accidents? Are there water pipes in the tunnel for extinguishing fire?
Is it possible to save the passengers from various acts of terrorism through the efforts of the police, military and NSG?
Did the public address system work correctly in time?
Was the logic of emergency door opening correct: was it a fully automated or manual system? Did the doors open only at station platforms?
Was the maintenance problem considered as the root cause of the accident?
Was there high risk of accidents in the metro rail? Who should be punished for the irresponsibilities? What was the accountability of higher authorities? Who took the responsibilities of any damage of the passengers?
Why did not the driver drive the train towards next station from the spot of accident? Why did the train stop in the tunnel?
Why did the emergency brake work? Was it due to the disconnection of power supply in train protection circuit?
Was the driver able to contact the control room?
Did the passengers get down before the disconnection of power supply in the third rail?
Where were the train driver and guard during the time of accident?
Was there any metro rail helpline number; how to contact the control room? The possible risk mitigation strategies are expected to include several critical measures such as fire protection system, smoke detectors and CCTVs in each compartment, regulatory compliance on smoking inside running train, ban on carrying of hazardous materials (e.g. bombs, fireworks, explosives, kerosene, petrol and diesel ) by the passengers, fire protection from the gas oven at pantry cars, use of induction cookers instead of gas ovens, announcements and alerts in time through public address system, automated air conditioning system in the tunnel, automated control of the velocity and direction of airflow to resist spreading of smoke and fire, automated airflow control system in the compartment after sensing smoke, footpath inside the tunnel, disconnection of power supply in third rail, fire caused by antisocialists and terrorists such as explosion or nerve gas attack and readiness of fire brigade and disaster management workforce. There are other problems of sensors enabled automatic closing of the doors of metro trains. A door may remain open during running condition. On the contrary, a door may be closed during stoppage at a station. Such types of problems occur due to the malfunctioning of limit switches.
Test case 2 (Fog and mist in winter) : It was winter in January’2018. Smith was pursuing his Doctoral programme at a management institute. He went to Nelhi to present his paper at an International Conference. He was accompanied with his mother (50 years), wife (35 years) and son (3 years). It was a very cold night. Smith was returning to Cowrah from Nelhi by a superfast mail. The train started at 1 a.m. with a delay of 4 hours. The train arrived near Panpur and stopped. The reason was poor visibility to the train driver due to dense fog and mist. The temperature was about 2 degree centigrade. The train could not start for about 4 hours till the sunrise in the morning. It was a horrible experience to Smith and his family members. They were in non-AC compartment. The kids inside the train compartment were crying and coughing in the severe cold weather. All the passengers and the driver were helpless at that night.
Test case 3 (Breakdown during journey): Smith was returning from Hennai to Cowrah by a superfast express train. The train started at 23-45. At midnight, the train suddenly halted with heavy jerk. The passengers became frightened. The driver discovered that the gas pipe was broken. He replaced the gas pipe through shearing and welding operations in the darkness. The train was delayed by 1 hour. Was it possible to predict the poor health of the gas pipe in time?
Test case 4 (Act of terrorism): There were rail accidents with many casualties in country X due to various acts of terrorism. One case, the fishplates were taken out by the terrorists. There were five cases where the railway tracks were blown out with highly dangerous explosive bombs by the malicious agents. There were some horrific incidents of robbery and loot by the dacoits at night. There were also many incidents of theft of shoes and belongings of the passengers. Can automated check-in system at various rail stations ensure security and safety of the passengers? Do the passengers need protection by the armed security force and watchdogs during journey by rail?
Test case 5 (Healthcare problem during rail journey): There were frequent cases of allergic disorders, itching, skin rash, heart burning, stomach upset, loose motion and food poisoning of the train passengers during long distance rail journey in summer and also cold and cough, breathing problems and fever in winter. There are high risks of attacks of infectious diseases (e.g. conjunctivitis, eye infection, skin rashes etc) from other travelers during rail travel. Should the passengers carry emergency medicines (e.g. anti-allergic tablets, fever, cold and cough, digestion problem, stomach upset) and pure drinking water as proactive and reactive approaches of healthcare? Should they avoid spicy, oily, rich and fast food during travel? Railway catering services must take care of such issues. The travelers should clean their seats and berths with disinfection germ protection cleaning agents proactively. During epidemic and pandemic disaster, railways authorities should arrange quarantined compartments of each long distance train for contact isolation of the travelers and passengers. They should also broadcast the aforesaid precautionary measures to the travelers and passengers through intelligent broadcast communication channels.