New Delhi: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday turned emotional as he spoke about the missing persons in the horrific train crash in Odisha's Balasore that claimed 275 lives and injured more than 1000 people.
Speaking to reporters, he said that his goal is to ensure that the missing people can be reunited with their family members as soon as possible.
"Our goal is to make sure missing persons' family members can find them as soon as possible...our responsibility is not over yet," said a visibly emotional Ashwini Vaishnaw as he announced the restoration of train services in the affected section.
Train services resumed on Sunday night following the repair of the damaged tracks on both the up and down lines, 51 hours after the tragic triple train accident in Balasore.
In a video shared on ANI, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw could be seen waving at the passengers and crew of the moving train and praying for their safe journey.
The Railways minister told ANI that the work on the reconstruction of the damaged tracks started soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out instructions.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his advice and instructions on the restoration of the railway tracks. The whole team (involved in the restoration work) laboured diligently and systematically to fix the damaged rails for the resumption of services," he said.
He added, "Services on both tracks have been restored. Nomal train services on both the lines were restored 51 hours after the accident."
The triple train accident involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Coromandel Express and a goods train on three separate tracks at Bahanaga Bazar station in the Balasore district.
Earlier, on Sunday, Vaishnaw said the accident occurred due to a "change in electronic interlocking".
Electronic interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements between trains through an arrangement of tracks. It is basically a safety measure to prevent signals from being changed in improper sequence. The aim of this system is that no train gets the signal to proceed unless the route is proven safe.
Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Secy Pradeep Jena clarified that the death toll from the horrific accident had been revised from 288 to 275, after it was dermined that some bodies had been counted twice.
"The death toll is 275, and not 288 as reported earlier. The toll was re-checked by the district magistrate (DM) and it was found that some bodies had been counted twice. Hence the toll was revised to 275, of which 88 bodies have been identified," Jena told ANI.
"Of the 1,175 injured, 793 were discharged after treatment," he added.