Railways did not rule out the possibility of conspiracy, electronic interlocking was used in the Odisha train accident.

Odisha Train Accident: In a way, the Railways on Sunday (June 4) ruled out the possibility of driver’s fault and system failure in the Odisha train accident. Along with this indicated possible ‘sabotage’ and tampering with the ‘electronic interlocking’ system.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the “root cause” of the accident has been ascertained and the “culprits” responsible for it have been identified. “It (accident) happened due to electronic interlocking and change in point machine,” he told the media at the accident site in Balasore district.

denial of outside interference

In Delhi, top railway officials explained how the ‘point machine’ and interlocking system work. He said the system is ‘fault-free’ and ‘fail safe’. The officials did not rule out the possibility of any outside interference.

‘Fail Safe’ System

Jaya Verma Sinha, member, operations and business development, Railway Board, said, “It is called a ‘fail safe’ system, so it means that if it fails, all the signals will turn red and all train operations will stop.” Will shut down. Now, as the minister said there was a problem with the signal system. Maybe someone did some digging without seeing the cable. Any machine is prone to failure.”

tampering can only be ‘deliberate’

In this regard, a senior railway official said that such tampering with the ‘logic’ of the artificial intelligence (AI) based electronic interlocking system can only be ‘intentional’. He ruled out the possibility of any glitch in the system.

Commissioner of Railway Safety completed the investigation

The officer requested not to reveal his name. He said, ‘It could be a case of tampering or sabotage from inside or outside. We have not denied anything. Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav also said that the Commissioner of Railway Safety has completed the inquiry and the report is awaited.

275 people died

The horrific accident involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train took place at around 7 pm on Friday (June 02), in which at least 275 people died and over 1,100 were injured.

The authorities on Sunday (June 04) also gave a clean chit to the driver of the Coromandel Express saying that he had the green signal to proceed and was not driving the train at a speed higher than the permitted speed. A preliminary inquiry report related to the accident said that the Coromandel Express entered the loop line at the station, on which a goods train was standing.

this is how the accident happened

It noted that the signal “was given and train number 12841 (Coromandel Express) was flagged off for the Up main line, but the train entered the Up loop line and started running on the loop line, indicating the possibility of tampering”. collided with a stationary goods train and derailed. Meanwhile, train number 12864 (Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express) passed on down main line and two of its coaches derailed and overturned.”

Noting that the minister pointed out how the two components are important for train operation, Sandeep Mathur, Principal Executive Director, Signal Affairs, Railway Board, said that these two work in coordination to show the driver when to proceed. for whether the track is empty or not.

signal is interlocked

He said, “The signals are interlocked in such a way that it is known whether the line ahead is busy or not. It is also known whether the point is taking the train straight or towards the loop line.” The official said that the interlocking system is a safe way of taking the train out of the station.

Point machine is an important equipment for railway signaling for quick operation of point switch and locking and plays a vital role in safe running of train. Due to the failure of these machines, the movement of trains is badly affected. Sinha said that the direction, route and signals were fixed for the Coromandel Express.

Green signal means that…

He said, ‘Green signal means that in every way the driver knows that his way ahead is clear and he can go ahead with his maximum speed allowed. The permitted speed on this section was 130 kmph and he was running his train at a speed of 128 kmph, which we have confirmed with the loco log.

The train was running at a speed of 126 kmph

The Bangalore-Howrah Superfast Express train was running at a speed of 126 kmph. He said, ‘There was no question of speeding in both the trains. Preliminary investigation has found that there was a signal related problem. Sinha said, ‘Only one train was involved in the accident, that was the Coromandel Express. The Coromandel Express collided with the goods train and its coaches climbed on top of the goods train. It was an iron ore train, a heavy train, so the full impact of the collision was on the train.

He said that in a moment, the last two coaches of the Bangalore-Howrah train collided with the coaches of the Coromandel Express train. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has completed its investigation at the spot. He can meet the witnesses of the accident on Monday and Tuesday.

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