Root cause train crash ascertained; person responsible for mishap identified, says Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnav
‘There have been some issues in signalling,’ Railway Board chairman Jaya Varma Sinha
By Sukant Mohanty
Bhubaneswar, June 4: The root cause of the tragic train mishap that killed at least 275 people and left 1,175 injured in Odisha’s Balasore district has been ascertained, said railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday.
“The root cause of this accident has been identified. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspected the site on Saturday. We will try to restore the track today. All bodies have been removed,” the railways minister said.
He further stated, “The commissioner of railway safety has investigated the matter and let the investigation report come but we have identified the cause of the incident and the people responsible for it… It happened due to a change in electronic interlocking.”
“We’ve identified the root cause of the train accident and the people responsible for it. Accident happened due to a change in electronic interlocking. Right now our focus is on restoration,” Mr Vaishnaw tweeted.
“Our target is to finish the restoration work by Wednesday morning so that trains can start running on this track,” Vaishnaw added.
The Railway Minister further stated that the mishap has nothing to do with Kavach.
“The reason is not what Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday. This incident happened due to a change in electronic interlocking,” Vaishnaw added.
In a major development in the theories and media reports regarding the involvement of multiple trains in the Odisha train mishap, the Railway Board on Sunday made some startling revelations.
In another significant development, Member of Operation and Business Development, Railway Board, Jaya Varma Sinha on Sunday said that preliminary findings suggest that there have been some issues with the signalling. A detailed report from the Commissioner of Railway Safety is awaited.
“We need to understand that only Coromandel Express met with the accident. The false information is floating that multiple trains collided. The Coromandel Express train was then at a speed of around 128 km per hour,” said Sinha.
According to Sinha, the goods train did not get derailed. “Since the goods train was carrying iron ores, the maximum damage of the impact was on Coromandel Express. This is the reason for a huge number of deaths and injuries,” said Sinha.
According to Sinha, the derailed bogies of Coromandel Express came on the down line, and hit the last two bogies of Yashwantpur Express which was crossing at a speed of 126 km per hour from down line.
