NewsRescue
An examination by India’s Commission of Railway Safety into the triple-train collision tragedy near Balasore in Odisha on June 2, which killed 293 people and injured 900, discovered that malfunctioning signaling system connections resulted in wrong instructions being transmitted to the trains.
Mislabeling of wires within a level-crossing position box went undetected, according to a study submitted to the Railway Board last week and published by multiple media sources on Monday.
The dossier blames the signaling department for the accident, noting that the station master at Bahanaga Bazaar failed to recognize “abnormal behavior” in the signaling control system. According to the research, the tragedy may have been avoided if previous red flags had not been ignored.
According to the Indian Express newspaper, which cites the findings, signaling employees at the site stated that while replacing an electric lifting barrier at the level crossing on the day of the tragedy, they were “misled” by “anomalies.” They saw that the placement box, where the wires were connected, had inaccurate wording, indicating that their functions were incorrectly specified.
The investigators discovered that the completion wiring diagram, which shows technicians how the wiring is supposed to be rejoined after maintenance work, was modified on paper and formally approved as early as 2015. However, the labeling was not changed physically. According to the report, “the circuit names… were not corrected on the terminal rack.”
According to Railway Ministry sources, the 40-page study has been presented to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s office as well as the Railway Board, but has yet to be accepted. If the study is accepted, additional recommendations will be made to other departments, according to officials. Meanwhile, personnel adjustments have been implemented within the ministry, where the accident is being treated “seriously.”
The Commission also discovered that a similar occurrence occurred around two weeks before the Odisha catastrophe in the Kharagpur railroads division at Bankra Nayabaz station, where there was a discrepancy between the intended route set by the signals and the actual route taken by a train. The disparity was traced down to faulty wiring and a cable.
