Lapses in signalling, repairs led to Odisha train tragedy: Railways report

Faulty signalling due to botched repair works caused the deadly Balasore train accident in India, according to the Commissioner of Railway Safety.

Faulty signalling due to two botched repair works, including one in 2018 and the other hours before the accident, led to the Coromandel Express being sent on a collision course with a goods train on another track, the main Railways investigation of the crash has found, according to people aware of the development, and official documents.

Over 290 people have been killed so far and over 900 injured in Balasore train tragedy (File Photo)

The findings of the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), AM Chowdhary, attribute the cause of the Balasore train accident – the deadliest in the country in three decades – to “lapses” at multiple levels of the signalling and telecom (S&T) department.

The report noted that a similar incident had happened at the Bankranayabaz station (in Bengal, under the Kharagpur railway division) on May 16, 2022, when wrong wiring led a train to take a different route than those intended by signals.

It also added that the June 2 tragedy could have potentially been avoided had the repeated glitches with the local signalling system been flagged, which could have led the signalling and track staff to trace the mistake that was made in 2018.

“The rear-collision (of Coromandel Express) was due to the lapses in the signalling-circuit-alteration carried out… in the past and during the execution of the signalling work related to replacement of electric lifting barrier for level crossing gate number 94 at the station,” said the report, which HT has seen.

The findings will be part of the inputs to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is carrying out the main criminal investigation into the incident that killed 288 people that day, with at least five more succumbing to injuries later to take the toll up to 293. To be sure, the report, submitted by the CRS to the Railway Board, may be accepted or rejected by the railway ministry.

The lapses listed above, according to the report, resulted in the wrong signal being sent to Coromandel Express, which was sent onto a line with a parked goods train, which it rammed into at the speed of 128 km/hr.

This caused most of the train to derail, with some of its coaches knocking off parts of the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express coming from the opposite direction on an adjacent line. As a consequence, multiple coaches derailed, with some becoming mangled beyond recognition and crushing the occupants inside.

The botched repair work in 2018 included cable faults that were fixed but were not marked on a crucial circuit board, which the staff working on the same panel on June 2, hours before the accident, had failed to take into account, the report added.

“It is also learnt… that there was a similar incident of mismatch between the intended route set by signals, and actual route taken by train, on 16.05.2022, at BKNM (Bankranayabaz) station in Kharagpur Division of South Eastern Railway, on account of wrong wiring and cable fault,” said the report.

“Had corrective measures been taken, after this incident, to address the issue of wrong-wiring, the accident at BNBR (Bahanaga Bazar, near Balasore) station would not have taken place,” it added.

The report advised Railways that initial response to such a disaster should be faster. “Railway Board should review the system of disaster-response in the Zonal Railways, and also the co-ordination between the Zonal Railways and various Disaster-Response Forces (NDRF & SDRF),” the report read.

It added that a drive should be launched to review signal wiring diagrams, documents and lettering of signalling circuits.

Shortly after the incident on June 2, Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said “the Commissioner of Railway Safety has taken statements from all people, and has proceeded fast. The root cause has been identified – people who have done this work have also been identified.”

Railway Board member Jaya Verma Sinha told reporters in New Delhi that the Railways was “looking into all aspects of the tragedy including whether there was manual intervention in the interlocking failure”.

CBI is also investigating whether the accident was the outcome of sabotage.