Bhubaneswar: The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has submitted a report on the Balasore train accident in Odisha to the Railway Board pointing out faults in the Signaling and Telecommunication (S&T) department.
Ruling out the possibility of “sabotage” as suggested by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during the initial days of inquiry, the CRS has claimed that it was human error that led to the deadly Balasore train accident.
The probe undertaken by the CRS has identified “wrong signalling” as the main cause for the train accident on June 2 that killed 293 people and injured over 1000. The report highlighted “lapses at multiple levels” in the Signalling and Telecommunication (S&T) department, but implied the tragedy could have been avoided if past red flags were reported.
The independent inquiry report said despite the lapses in signalling work, corrective actions could have been taken by the S&T staff if “repeated unusual behaviour” of switches connecting two parallel tracks were reported to them by the station master of Bahanaga Bazar, the site of the accident. The inquiry report blames “wrong signalling” for the Balasore train accident and cites “lapses at multiple levels” in the Signal & Telecommunication department.
The CRS report says the accident could have been prevented if S&T staff were informed of the “repeated unusual behaviour” of switches connecting parallel tracks by the station manager, adding, that non-supply of the approved circuit diagram for replacing the electric lifting barrier at the level crossing gate 94 led to “wrong wiring” by field supervisors.
The report further says that a similar incident happened on May 16, 2022, at Bankranayabaz station due to wrong wiring and cable fault, and corrective measures were not taken.
According to the CRS report, the initial response to the disaster should be faster and advises the Railways to review the disaster-response system and coordinate with NDRF and SDRF.
It concludes that the rear collision was due to “lapses in the signalling-circuit-alteration” done at north signal ‘goomty’ in the past and during signalling work related to the level crossing gate 94. The report says these lapses caused wrong signalling to train no. 12841 which collided with the goods train standing on the UP loop line.
The CRS report recommends updating the completion signalling wiring diagrams, other documents, and lettering of signalling circuits at the site. It also suggests following standard practices for signalling-modification work, carrying out alteration with approved circuit diagram and officer’s presence, and deploying separate teams for checking and testing modified signalling circuits and functions.
