The driver and assistant driver of one of the two passenger trains that crashed on October 29, 2023, killing 14 people, were watching a cricket match on their phones, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday, stressing the reason behind the tragedy, news agency PTI reported. The Rayagada Passenger train collided with the Visakhapatnam Palasa train from behind around 7 p.m. on the Howrah-Chennai line in Kantakapalli, Vizianagaram district, Andhra Pradesh. More than 50 passengers were wounded.
Vaishnaw mentioned the Andhra train tragedy while discussing new safety measures that Indian Railways had been working on.
Speaking with PTI, Vaishnaw stated: "The recent case in Andhra Pradesh happened because both the loco pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the cricket match which was going on. Now we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction and make sure that the pilots and the assistant pilots are fully focussed on running the train.
He added: "We will continue to put our focus on safety. We try to find out the root cause of every incident and we come up with a solution so that it is not repeated."
While the investigation report conducted by the Commissioners of Railway Safety (CRS) has yet to be made public, a preliminary railway probe, conducted a day after the accident, held the driver and assistant driver of the Rayagada Passenger train responsible for the collision because it passed two defective auto signals that violated standards. Both crew members died in the crash.
Andhra Train Mishap
The incident occurred at Kantakapalli in Kottavalasa Mandal of Vizianagaram district around 7 PM on October 29, 2023. The Visakhapatnam-Palasa (08532) train, which started a few minutes after the Visakhapatnam-Raigad (08504) train, collided with it. The Visakhapatnam passenger train left for Vizianagaram from Visakhapatnam railway station at 5:45 PM, and the Raigad passenger started on the same track at 6 PM.
As the Visakhapatnam-Palasa train was slowly moving for a signal near Kantakapalli-Alamanda, it stopped at 848 km on the track, where the Raigad passenger collided with it from behind. This caused some coaches to jump onto another track where they hit a goods train, leading to severe damage and derailment of some coaches. Two coaches belonging to the Visakhapatnam-Palasa train climbed onto the tanker goods, flipping the train upside down.
Coaches designated for disabled passengers in the Visakhapatnam-Raigad train derailed and fell into the fields, and a part of the D-1 coach broke off and was thrown upwards due to the force.