New Delhi, June 3
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the Coromandel Express train involved in a horrific rail tragedy in Odisha on Friday entered the loop line and crashed into a goods train parked there instead of the main line just ahead of the Bahanagar Bazar station, a source said.
The coaches of Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express capsized after crashing into the coaches of Coromandel Express that had scattered on the adjacent track.
While Coromandel Express was at a speed of 128 kmph, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express was running at a speed of 116 kmph. The report has been submitted to the Railway Board, sources said.
The loop lines of the Indian Railways are constructed in a station area—in this case, the Bahanagar Bazar station—to accommodate more trains to ease out the operations. The loop lines are generally 750 metres in length to accommodate full-length goods train with multiple engines.
The two trains were carrying around 2,000 passengers. At least 261 people have been killed in the accident and nearly 1,000 injured.
An eyewitness to the incident, Anubhav Das, also told PTI that local authorities and railway officials had initially indicated that the train he was travelling on—Coromandel Express—had rammed into the goods train.
However, none of these accounts was officially confirmed by the railways.
While a thorough probe is underway, none of the authorities has so far talked about any possibility of a sabotage.
The national transporter has initiated a high-level probe into the train crash in Odisha’s Balasore, which will be headed by the commissioner of railway safety, South Eastern Circle, officials said.
The commissioner of railway safety works under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and investigates all such accidents.
“A M Chowdhary, CRS, SE Circle, will inquire into the accident,” a spokesperson of the Indian Railways said.
The national transporter has also said anti-train collision system “Kavach” was not available on the route.
The crash involved Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train.
“The rescue operation has been completed. Now, we are starting the restoration work. Kavach was not available on this route,” Indian Railways Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said.
The railways is in the process of installing “Kavach”, an anti-train collision system, across its network.
Kavach alerts when a loco pilot jumps a signal (Signal Passed at Danger—SPAD), which is the leading cause of train collisions. The system can alert the loco pilot, take control of the brakes and bring the train to a halt automatically when it notices another train on the same line within a prescribed distance.
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