Centre Gives Clean Chit To Loco Pilots In Odisha Train Tragedy, Says They Didn't Exceed Speed Limit
The railways said that the Coromandel Express did not exceed speed limits and received the green signal to enter a loop line on which a goods train was stationary.
The railways said that the Coromandel Express did not exceed speed limits and received the green signal to enter a loop line on which a goods train was stationary, effectively absolving its driver of any involvement in the accident, news agency PTI reported. The accident, which involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train, happened around 7 pm on Friday near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 250 kilometres south of Kolkata and 170 kilometres north of Bhubaneswar.
Two Railway Board officials, Principal Executive Director of Signalling Sandeep Mathur and Member of Operation and Business Development Jaya Varma Sinha, explained how the accident could have happened, PTI reported.
They described the operation of the interlocking system, which appeared to be a contributing factor to the accident.
Sinha said: "Green signal means that in every way the driver knows that his path ahead is clear and he can go forward with his permitted maximum speed. The permitted speed at this section was 130 kmph and he was running his train at 128 kmph which we have confirmed from loco logs."
"Only one train was involved in the accident, it was the Coromandel Express. The Coromandel Express crashed with the goods train and its coaches went on top of the goods train. It was an iron ore-laden train, a heavy train, therefore the entire impact of the collision was on the train," she said.
Injured Coromandel Express Drivers Stable, Statements To Be Recorded Post Recovery:
The condition of injured engine driver Gunanidhi Mohanty and his assistant Hajari Behera, who are undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, is stable, news agency PTI reported citing officials. Both were rescued from the Coromandel Express that derailed near Bahanaga Bazar Station on June 2 which claimed 275 lives and left around 1,200 injured.
South Eastern Railway (SER) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Aditya Choudhury said: "Both the drivers are stable. While Mohanty was taken out of the ICU on Monday, Behera is awaiting a head surgery," he was quoted as saying by a television channel.
The families of both drivers have asked for privacy so that they can recover physically and mentally. They claimed that the drivers could not be blamed for the accident because they followed all of the rules, PTI reported.
Following their recovery, their statements will be recorded by the Commissioner Railway Safety, SER Circle, which began its investigation into the accident on Monday.
Investigators are looking into possible human error, signal failure, and other possible causes behind the three-train crash.
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