The investigation by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) into the June 2 accident involving the horrific triple train accident in Odisha has reportedly found faults from the signalling and telecommunication department (S&T) for the grave tragedy. The Commissioner submitted its report on Thursday. The accident involving Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast, and an iron-ore good train claimed 292 lives and injured over 1,200 passengers in Bahanaga Bazar station near Balasore in Odisha.

The accident took place after the Coromandel Express entered the loop line at the station instead of going straight on the main line, hit the goods train parked there at full speed, and its derailed coaches hit the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast which was just passing the station. It was evident the signalling was wrongly set for the train at the station.

Talking about the report, a railway official stated, “The report was submitted and has found lapses on the part of a few departments along with some staff in charge of the relay room. The sabotage angle, if any, will only be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).”

The premier investigative agency is also looking into the incident in addition to the CRS inquiry after the Railway Board recommended a CBI probe to look into possible sabotage angle. The authorities noted, however, that the Railways had chosen not to make the report public in order to prevent any influence or interference with the CBI investigation into the disaster.

“We will not be disclosing the CRS report because of another ongoing independent enquiry. This is to ensure that this report does not in any way influence or interfere with the other report. We will take cognisance of both the reports and make an overall evaluation of the incident and then take whatever steps necessary,” informed another railway officer.

Senior authorities generally have access to these findings to ensure that the commission’s recommendations are carefully followed and carried out. Within a week of any accident, the latter typically produces an intermediate assessment prior to the final one, according to officials, but this time, it has just submitted one report.

The railway board had ordered a double-locking configuration for all of its relay rooms with train controlling mechanisms, relay huts (containing level-crossing signalling and telecommunications equipment), and point and track circuit signals days before the report was presented. A double locking system that would prevent access to the rooms was intended to make the entry to the relay room impenetrable to tampering.

It had observed that “access to the relay room” was crucial to the “signalling interference” that led the Coromandel Express to use the loop line at Balasore and collide with a stopped goods train, in a letter. According to the officials, the station manager got a memo informing that the interlocking system was disconnected to do some work and then got another memo indicating that the system has been reconnected after the completion of the work.

But, it has been found that the system was tampered with to send false messages to the station manager, and actually the job was not completed on the system. “However, in reality, the technician bypassed the system because the work was not complete and he rigged the location box to get a ‘green signal’ for the Coromandel Express,” the official said.  

The safety protocol of testing the signalling system before allowing a train to pass was not followed. Moreover, the signalling personnel kept working even after the reconnection message was sent, as a result, both the station’s operations employees and the signalling maintenance team shared accountability for the catastrophe.

“It is the protocol that whenever maintenance of assets of any nature is carried out, the operations staff is also responsible for the safety of trains along with the engineering staff concerned, be it track-related or signalling related,” a railway officer remarked.

The Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express entered the station’s loop route rather than the designated main line and collided with a halted freight train in one of the worst railway accidents in recent memory. The train derailed and parts of it hit another train, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast, which also derailed, resulting in high casualty figures.

South Eastern Railway GM transferred

Following the submission of the report by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, South Eastern Railway General Manager Archana Joshi was transferred as general manager to the Rail Wheel Factory in Karnataka’s Yelahanka on Friday. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Railway Board, appointed Anil Kumar Misra, an Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers officer, as the new GM of South Eastern Railway.

 Earlier, the Railway Board had transferred five senior zone officials, including the assistant general manager and the divisional railway manager.