Every Indian who travels on a Volvo bus, a term that has become a de-facto standard for the best way to travel on Indian roads will be a bit uncomfortable for the next few weeks.
Unless of course they haven’t heard about the recent Volvo bus tragedy near Hyderabad where 45 passengers including infants were roasted alive in a horrific inferno that reduced the bus and occupants to ashes within 25 minutes of what wasn’t a full-frontal collision and didn’t cause much damage to the bus itself but which resulted in a fire that killed 45.
The tragic inferno raises many questions, and while the state of Indian roads and driving discipline has been quite literally discussed to death—in the couple of hours it took to write this article, nearly 50 Indians would have died in road accidents–the tragedy also raises questions about Volvo India Buses, safety standards for critical components like the fuel tanks and most importantly the lack of implementation of road safety standards by bus operators.
First up, let’s get one thing clear. As compared to many Indian ‘luxury’ buses that are nothing more than a bus body plonked on top of a truck chassis, Volvo Buses are built on chassis’ that are designed for a bus. Incidentally, Volvo also used a third-party bus body builder (Jaico) during its early years, but it seems like since the last 5-6 years Volvo builds all bus bodies internally, given that Volvo Buses India was set up for the specific purpose of building bus bodies. In fact, the company was set up in 2006 as a JV with Jaico Automobiles, an Azad company, one of the largest traditional bus builders in India.
However, in 2010 Volvo bought Jaico’s 30 percent stake in the JV to make it a 100 percent Volvo subsidiary. On its website Volvo boasts about the high quality of its bus bodies and buses itself, and that’s no idle boast since the cost-conscious Indian traveller often does not mind paying nearly double to travel in a Volvo Bus as compared to normal buses.
And India being India, operators also deploy a whole series of Volvo knock-offs, especially in smaller cities. Around two decades ago some buyers used to buy a Hindustan Contessa and get auto shops to make some modifications and lo and behold your humble Contessa turned into a Mercedes Benz overnight. Of course it fooled only the highly gullible, but in a country of 1.2 billion the proportion of the highly gullible is a not a small number.
But the bus involved in the Hyderabad tragedy was not a knock-off. And going by this report in the New Indian Express, it was a fully Volvo built bus – the 9400 XL, which according to the Volvo India bus website is its top-of-the-line offering in India.
The report goes on to add that a Volvo technical team is looking into how an accident, which by all accounts wasn’t a major one, could result in the fuel tank exploding and cause an inferno that claimed 45 lives. Volvo claims the fuel tank is designed in such a way that fuel will spill in case the tank is punctured. A Volvo spokesperson also claimed that the wires were fire retardant, four emergency exits through the windows were present and the fuel tank was at the front of the bus below the first axle.
In another media report a Volvo spokesperson insisted that the fuel tank was not to blame, and explained that the fuel tank in the bus was not made of metal but roto-moulded plastic, which rarely explodes under pressure. Unlike metal fuel tanks, which get compressed and explode due to built up pressure, the plastic fuel tank only cracks, spilling the fuel but not causing a massive explosion, the company spokesperson said.
One fact that must be remembered about fire retardant material is that it only slows down a fire and does not mean the material will not burn. Indian Railways has been using fire retardant materials in its coaches for years but fires still take place and passengers die.
Volvo also ensures drivers are trained to operate their powerful buses. Volvo claims it trains three drivers at its facility in Bangalore for each Volvo bus that is sold. This is critical because Volvo buses are far more powerful than regular buses built on truck chassis, with engines offering around 290 BHP of power as compared to around 180-200 BHP for regular buses. This means they travel much faster and on a route like Bangalore-Hyderabad, bus booking site Redbus.in reveals that a Volvo can get you there in around 7-8 hours while a regular bus will take around 12 hours or more.
There’s also the issue of driver fatigue. As this first person account reveals, government owned transport corporations use two drivers, but private operators make do with one to save costs. Secondly, it’s doubtful that a company with Volvo’s global reputation for safety above all else, would cut corners on the safety of the fuel tank and only focus on luxurious interiors.
That brings us to the two pachyderms in the room–the bus operators and government agencies who are supposed to enforce safety standards.
It is common knowledge that in India Volvo Buses are not just used to transport passengers but also cargo. Volvo Buses have cavernous holds (a two-wheeler can be stored upright) and given that many passengers on the overnight Bangalore-Hyderabad run were travelling on work or on a short trip home, they wouldn’t carry much luggage. Which means Jabbar Travels, the bus operator of the ill-fated bus would normally stuff the luggage hold with cargo.
A few months ago I wanted to send a two-wheeler that we had all but stopped using, but was in great condition, to a friend in Bangalore, who was looking for a two-wheeler for running errands and the like. I approached packers and movers but they said they wouldn’t do it, until one kindly mover advised me to approach bus operators. And that’s exactly what happened–I learnt that for a price, bus operators carry all kinds of cargo and my TVS Scooty went in the hold of a Volvo from Mumbai to Bangalore. I even got a proper receipt for my payment.
In my case the bus operator asked me to empty the fuel tank. I complied but my word was taken at face value. I also noticed when delivering the two-wheeler to their cargo centre that a lot of bales, etc, were also present for transport. Much of the material was surely flammable. Are such buses legally allowed to carry cargo or is the permit only for passengers and luggage carried by passengers? I would bet it’s the latter but operators make more money on cargo and greasing of sarkari palms ensures that authorities look the other way.
Secondly, there’s the issue of what happens in an air-conditioned vehicle with central locking in the case of a fire. Cars are reduced to ashes within minutes and sometimes with the occupants inside since fires often tend to jam central locking systems. It is for this reason that experts advise every car owner who has a central locking system to carry a hammer inside the car.
And this is also why air-conditioned buses have hammers placed at strategic points and near emergency exit windows. Automotive glass is pretty tough and cannot be broken by the human hand unless you’re incredibly strong. When you’re panicking during a fire and already suffering from the effects smoke inhalation, you’re even less likely to be able to break automotive glass with your bare hands.
Did the ill-fated Volvo operated by Jabbar Travels have these hammers in place? Or were they pilfered by earlier passengers or staff? Was the driver trained by Volvo? As the New Indian Express reports, in this case, with the bus being taken on lease from another company, it seems unlikely Jabbar Travels used Volvo-trained drivers.
And that finally brings us to the biggest elephant in the room – state governments, who are responsible for ensuring that operators adhere to bus safety standards, that buses are not overcrowded, who have to ensure no third-party cargo is carried if such buses are not permitted to carry cargo, and who have to enforce rules that mandate safety equipment is present in the case of an emergency, ensure only properly-trained drivers are allowed to drive such powerful vehicles, etc.
Long distance truckers will tell you that government officials do stop trucks and buses, but it’s not for checks, but to collect their regular bribes. In fact, trucks carry small diaries for each such ‘regular’ check and pay a monthly fee and the official makes a unique mark on the diary which can be shown for a month to allow passage without further extortion. Surely the same system would be in place for buses too.
The fact of the matter is that Volvo has too much to lose to cut corners on fuel tanks, but unscrupulous bus operators looking to make an extra buck and corrupt government officials who see regulation as a way to squeeze out extra money in the form of bribes would most likely be the ones not doing their jobs. And in a few weeks, this tragedy would disappear from the collective public memory and no one travelling in a Volvo bus would remember that 45 innocent lives were lost in a tragedy that just should not have occurred. But then, in a nation of 1.2 billion, what are 45 lives?
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