The casualness that marked the safety arrangements of the Samjhauta Express is becoming more apparent with every passing day. Considering the symbolic and political value of this train, and its patent vulnerability to terrorist attack, the desultory manner in which its security was handled is nothing short of criminal. The haphazard screening of passengers — many without valid passports were routinely allowed to board the train; the location of the platform in Old Delhi from where the train departed for Attari (it was open on all sides); and the lack of basic infrastructure like explosives detectors and body/baggage scanners, all tell a tale of negligence.

It should therefore not surprise that more comprehensive safety measures like compartments built out of fire-retardant material, did not figure even as a blip on the radar. The manner in which a project for building fire-retardant coaches with the technical assistance of the French national railways was stymied — which has just been reported by this newspaper — is of a piece with the general lack of seriousness. The Samjhauta Express tragedy will, no doubt, wake up some somnolent officials in the ministry of railways, and the forthcoming rail budget may even reflect the concern with more urgency. But we may have been spared at least some of the harrowing scenes that played out at Panipat if passenger safety had figured rather higher in the priorities of the Indian Railways.

Compare, if you will, the safety standards that marked the operations of the Samjhauta Express with those of the air services between Indian and Pakistan, or even with the Delhi-Lahore bus link. This raises the inevitable and extremely uncomfortable question: could it be then that since those who boarded this train were generally low-profile and of relatively modest means, securing their safety was not a prime concern? As it turned out, the completely unnecessary deaths of these 60-odd passengers and the trauma of their relatives have extracted an immeasurable cost. This tragedy will haunt the sub-continent for a very long time to come.