Change in electronic interlocking caused train accident: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the root cause of the Balasore train accident has been identified. Experts have explained what electronic interlocking is and how it can malfunction.

BHUBANESWAR: In a curious turn of events, the Indian Railway Board on Sunday evening recommended the Centre hand over the Bahanaga Bazar train accident case to CBI for investigation.

The announcement came from Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who earlier in the day had said the root cause of the accident and the people responsible for it had been identified. “It happened due to a change made in the electronic interlocking and point machine,” he told reporters at the accident site in the morning.

However, in a hurriedly convened media conference at Rail Sadan, headquarters of the East Coast Railway in Bhubaneswar, after visiting survivors undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, Vaishnaw said the case needed further investigation. “Keeping in view the situation in which the accident took place and all the administrative information that has been received so far, this case is being considered for further investigation. A recommendation is being made by the Railway Board to hand the matter over to the CBI,” Vaishnaw said.

#WATCH | The commissioner of railway safety has investigated the matter and let the investigation report come but we have identified the cause of the incident and the people responsible for it... It happened due to a change in electronic interlocking. Right now our focus is on… pic.twitter.com/UaOVXTeOKZ

— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2023

The request for a CBI probe has seemingly brought the sabotage angle into the picture. A senior Railway official said prima facie the accident appears to be an act of sabotage, which is now seen as a criminal act.

The CBI will be the competent agency to investigate the criminal aspect of the case. Earlier in the day, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which officially was stated to be on the treatment of injured passengers. The chief minister assured the prime minister that all possible steps are being taken to provide the best treatment to them. According to some railway officials, human error is the reason behind the crash.

“It was entirely a human error. We have identified it and found the involvement of two persons,” a senior official told this paper on condition of anonymity.

The Bahanaga Bazar station, where the derailment occurred, has two mainline tracks. Up and Down lines for trains to pass through and two loop lines used for temporary halts to allow smooth movement of trains on the main lines. After a goods train was allowed to stay on the Up loop line, the signal was given for Coromandel Express on the Up mainline. Usually, after a train is allowed into a loop by switching on the panel, it moves a piece of track from the mainline to the loop line.

Once the train is in, the switch is moved back in the route relay panel to ensure that the moved piece of track is returned to its original position. But here, the track piece did not return from the loop line to the mainline and the point was towards the loop line. Though the issue reflected on the panel at the station and a red light flashed for a few seconds, the station manager present at that time somehow missed it. By the time he saw the panel, there was nothing abnormal and he gave the signal.

As the piece of track, according to sources, had not returned to its original position, Coromandel Express dashed into the stationary iron ore-laden freight train at a speed of 130 kmph. Had the station manager noticed the red light and taken measures, this crash could have been avoided, said the senior official. Besides, the official said, it has come to light that the mainline and loop line junction had developed some snags and were ‘repaired’ by a signal maintainer.

“Possibly, this technician, who repaired the circuit made a direct connection with the signal bypassing the procedures. The assistant station manager, thus, could give the signal without knowing the track position. He adopted a shortcut method to repair the fault,” the official added.

The electronic signalling system is error-proof and fail-safe, which means when it fails, all signals will turn red and all train operations will stop.

The station manager cannot give the signal if there is any fault in the lines. “This is perhaps for the first time in railways history, it happened due to the shortcut method adopted to repair the fault,” sources said. Meanwhile, three separate teams of forensic experts from Kolkata, Hyderabad and New Delhi visited the station and collected forensic evidence. They also interacted with rail officials and station staff.

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