Preliminary Odisha rail mishap report pins blame on human error
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, June 3: A preliminary report by the Railways has pinned the blame on human error, which first gave signal and quickly took it off for the ill-fated train 12841, Coromandel Express. The report, a copy of which is with The Raisina Hills, said that the train had already entered into loop line before the signal was taken off.
“Signal was given and taken off for Up Main line for train 12841, but train entered into loop line and dashed with goods train N/DDIP which was on Up loop line and derailed. In the meantime 12864 passed through on Dn main line and two coaches of it were derailed and capsized,” stated the preliminary report on cause of the accident, which involved three trains – two passengers and one goods – that left at least 238 people dead and over 1000 injured near Balasore, Odisha on Friday evening.
The report further gave a description of the accident stating that “while passing through over Dn main line of Bahanaga Bazar station, Train no. 12841 SHM – MAS Coromandal express entered into loop line and dashed with goods train NDDIP which was on Up loop line and derailed by 19 coaches while passing BNBR station. At the same time, 12864 Dn SMVB – HWH Express was passing through over Dn main line. Train 12841 SHM – MAS Coromandal express side collided with train 12864 after derailment. 02 coaches of 12864 and Engine with 05 coaches of 12841 got capsized. Another 14 coaches of 12841 express got derailed. All movement on both Up & Dn line blocked.”
Dn stands for down line in the communication of the railways. The Odisha rail mishap is being compared with the Firozabad train collision accident of 1995, which took place on August 20. A collision occurred between the Purushottam Express and the Kalindi Express near Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, which left 358 passengers dead.
It must be noted that Commission of Rail Safety (CRS) finally probes all train mishaps. The CRS functions independent of the Ministry of Railways. However, the CRS reports take several years to come out as had been the case with 2016 train mishap involving Indore-Patna Express which had left over 150 passengers dead.
If the internal report of the zonal railways is to be believed the cause has come out to be signaling which led to the horrific mishap. This again is on account of human error. The railways has been stating for years that it’s working on eliminating the scope of human errors in signaling.
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