Lucknow: For Pranjeev Saxena (60), working for railways was more than a profession. Born and raised in New Delhi, he spent part of his childhood vacation at his ancestral home in Lucknow’s old neighbourhood near the Lucknow City-Aishbagh railway section, where the constant rumble of trains nurtured an enduring fascination with the railways.On July 31, the 1987-batch IRSME officer retired as Commissioner of Railway Safety (North-Eastern Circle), the ministry of civil aviation’s independent rail safety watchdog, after investigating some of India’s most consequential railway accidents.For Saxena, retirement marks the end of a career defined less by public visibility than by technical rigour. Colleagues describe him as a quiet, soft-spoken officer with exceptional engineering expertise, someone who was rarely seen without technical drawings, inspection reports or accident records spread across his desk. Deeply rational, he developed a reputation for letting evidence, not assumptions, drive his conclusions.That approach was tested during his tenure as CRS, when he investigated two major train accidents that drew nationwide attention.As CRS, South Central Circle, Saxena conducted the statutory inquiry into the Oct 29, 2023, collision between Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger (08504) and Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger (08532) near Kantakapalle in Andhra Pradesh, in which 17 people, including two loco-pilots and another railway staff, were killed.Saxena’s inquiry debunked claims that the crew of the passenger train might have been distracted while watching India-England ICC cricket World Cup match on a mobile phone.The investigation report fixed primary responsibility on the loco pilot of train 08504 for passing two automatic signals at danger and colliding with the preceding train at around 82 kmph in violation of railway operating rules. It also held the assistant loco pilot responsible for failing to apply emergency brakes.Months later, after taking charge of the Northeastern Circle in Lucknow, Saxena led the statutory investigation into the derailment of the Chandigarh- Dibrugarh Express (15904) near Gonda on July 18, 2024, in which four passengers lost their lives.During probe, Saxena found poor track maintenance, including use of cloth pieces to tighten elastic rail clips to fasten rail, a practice that had become common in rail operation which was against the norms.He also investigated the derailment of Muzaffarpur-Sabarmati Jansadharan Express (15269) near Prayagraj in 2025.Saxena’s investigation became the first in Indian Railways to use synchronised Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) system logs from LHB coaches to reconstruct the exact speed and sequence of derailment.An engineer by training, Saxena entered the IRSME through the Special Class Railway Apprentice scheme before earning an MBA from IIM-Calcutta with specialisation in finance, systems and business strategy. Over the years, he served at Northern Railway, North Eastern Railway, RITES, the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE) and the Modern Coach Factory at Rae Bareli.His contributions extended well beyond accident investigations. At RDSO, he led oscillation trials of LHB coaches and double stack container wagons, published research papers on vehicle dynamics and received the Director General, RDSO Award in 2008.At MCF, he introduced digital production monitoring systems and developed software-based solutions that modernised factory operations. As faculty at IRIMEE, he trained railway engineers while developing information technology applications for the institute.During his three and a half years in the CRS, Saxena inspected more than 900 km of new and doubled railway lines before commissioning, conducted safety inspections covering nearly 3,000 km of track, authorised hundreds of safety related works and reviewed critical infrastructure ranging from Dedicated Freight Corridor sections to Kavach installations, tunnels and industrial sidings.His recommendations shaped safety practices across multiple railway zones.“In a profession where every accident demands uncomfortable answers, he earned respect for one enduring principle. Facts came first. Everything else followed,” said a colleague.
