Hiriyur bus fire once again raises concern about safety of sleeper coaches

The deadly fire triggered by an accident on NH 48 near Hiriyur in the early hours of December 25 has once again brought the spotlight firmly on the safety of sleeper buses. Seven people were killed after a container truck rammed into the Gokarna-bound bus from Bengaluru, triggering a fire that rapidly engulfed the vehicle and left passengers with little time to escape. The tragedy has once again caused concerns that have surfaced repeatedly after similar accidents in recent years, particularly those involving fire. In October, a Bengaluru-bound private sleeper bus caught fire following an accident in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, claiming 19 lives. The scale of fatalities in such incidents has underlined the unique risks posed by sleeper coaches, where passengers are often lying down in confined spaces and evacuation can be slow and chaotic. Unscientific design Industry representatives acknowledge that sleeper buses, while popular, come with inherent safety challenges. Speaking to The Hindu , Nataraj Sharma, president of the Karnataka Private Bus Owners’ Association, said, “Sleeper buses are relatively uncommon globally and are used extensively only in India.” “They are in demand because they combine overnight travel with the comfort of sleeping berths, especially on long routes. But from a design perspective, these buses are unscientific. The aisles are narrow and movement is restricted, which makes them unsafe during emergencies,” he said. Mr. Sharma noted that existing body-building norms mandate a minimum of four emergency exits, two at the front, one at the rear and one in the middle, but added that mere compliance on paper was not enough. “Sricter enforcement of safety norms and awareness among passengers are critical. Safety has to be treated as non-negotiable,” he said. Tracing the evolution of sleeper coaches in India, he said the concept gained momentum around the mid-1990s as highway infrastructure improved, with formal recognition coming only around 2007. Despite their popularity, he pointed out, regulatory oversight has not kept pace with their growth. Sleeper buses typically have fewer berths than seated buses but charge fares that are 30% to 50% higher, making them commercially attractive to operators and comfortable for passengers, a combination that has fuelled their rapid spread. Safety lapses lie beyond the chassis, says expert Speaking to The Hindu , Transport expert M.N. Srihari said that authorities often fail to adequately scrutinise the quality of body construction and modifications carried out at private body-building workshops. “While these buses carry the branding of well-known manufacturers, the truth is that original equipment manufacturers supply only the engine and chassis. The rest of the bus is built elsewhere, and that is where serious compromises often occur,” he said. Mr. Srihari suggested that safety could be substantially improved if emergency exit procedures were mandatorily explained to passengers before departure, similar to safety briefings on flights. “There is a need for compulsory crash testing of the entire bus assembly, not just the chassis, to ensure that sleeper coaches offer meaningful protection during accidents,” he added. In the aftermath of the recent...

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