Odisha train accident: Three months before the deadly train accident in Odisha that killed nearly 300 people, a top Railways official had flagged “serious flaws in the signalling system”. The officer also warned that if the signal maintenance system was not monitored, it could lead to “serious accidents”.
An initial internal probe by the Indian Railways has found that failure of the signalling system caused Friday’s Odisha train accident.
Serious flaws in the system
Three months back in February, a railway board official had warned about “serious flaws in the system.” In a letter written to the authorities, he had raised concerns on failure of interlocking and sought immediate action.
The chief operating manager of the South Western Railway Zone had warned about ‘serious flaws in the system’ three months ago. He had raised concerns about failure of the interlocking system and highlighted the need for safety measures to be taken.
Letter written on February 9
The officer wrote a letter on February 9 raising concerns of signal failure of an express train which was averted due to the alertness of a loco pilot.
He wrote, “A very serious unusual incident occurred on 08.02.2023 at around 17.45 hrs, where in, Up Train No: 12649 Sampark Kranti Express, while starting from Road1, with Paper line clear ticket (PLCT) for advance starter as same was failed due to BPAC (block proving axle counter) failure, starter was working alright, thus, taken off at 17.45 Hrs. The loco-pilot of train no: 12649 Sampark Kranti Express had stopped the train before Point No: 65 A, while observing that the point was set to down main line (Wrong line), while as per PLCT, the train was supposed to pass through up main line.”
He said the incident indicated that there are “serious flaws in the system where the route of dispatch gets altered after a train starts on signals with the correct appearance of route on the SMS panel. This contravenes the essence and basic principles of interlocking.”
“It is therefore, advised that necessary actions may be initiated against the culprits and corrective steps are be taken immediately to rectify the flaws prevailing in the signalling system of railway stations in SWR territory. The outcome of detailed investigation and measures taken for rectification of the system may be shared to educate the station masters, TIs and traffic officers for training, information and necessary actions on their part,” he said in the letter.
Balasore train crash
On June 2, three trains including Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express besides a goods train were involved in the accident triggered by a derailment. Nearly 300 people died and over 1,100 were injured in the crash in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday.
“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 restoration,” the railway minister said.
Officer warned of serious accidents
The officer also warned if the signal maintenance system was not monitored and corrected immediately, it could lead to “re-occurrences and serious accidents”.
“It is understood that the signal maintainer, who was available at the station was trying to rectify the failures. The said ESM would have opted to wait for the dispatch of the train, since it was already issued with PLCT, and then attempted to rectify the failure, by adopting the extant rules and procedures,” he wrote.
“As per the extant rules and procedures, the ESM shall serve a disconnection memo to the station master, who acknowledges it and then give permission to attend any failures. In this case, why was such a procedure was not followed by the ESM? Had it been followed, the SM would have been alert and followed the practice to be adopted for non-interlocked working, like clamping of points, piloting of trains etc,” he suggested.
Proper procedure not observed
South Western Railways in a statement said the concerned staff had not observed proper procedure while attending to repair/maintenance of signalling gear.
“In the said incident, it was found that the concerned staff had not observed proper procedure while attending to repair/maintenance of signalling gear. Immediately, prompt action was taken. A committee of officers conducted an enquiry and took strict punishment on errant staff was given as per Discipline and Appeal Rules,” the statement read.
“Further, a month long intensive counselling drive was done to counsel about 2277 no. of frontline staff involved in maintenance of signalling gears were counselled across the zone,” it added.
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