Global Courant
BAHANAGA – An official inquiry into the train accident in India is focusing on the suspected manual diversion of an automated signaling system guiding train movements – an action that investigators say sent an overcrowded express train into a stationary freight train, three Indian Railways sources told Reuters .
Investigators from the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) suspect the bypass was created by railway workers to bypass signaling obstacles that stemmed from a faulty barrier used to hold back road traffic at a nearby rail-road intersection, two of them said. the three sources.
The sources declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
The June 2 crash at Bahanaga Bazar station, in the Balasore district of the eastern Indian state of Odisha, killed at least 288 people and injured more than 1,000. It was India’s worst rail accident in two decades.
Indian and international media previously reported that a possible malfunction in the automated signaling system may have led to the crash.
However, details of the frequent disturbances at the nearby rail-road barrier and the possible connection to a manual signaling system bypass are reported by Reuters for the first time.
The CRS, India’s railway safety authority, did not respond to a request for comment.
“Irregular Barrier”
Indian Railways, the fourth largest train network in the world, is a state monopoly operated by the Railway Board. The Board reports to the Ministry of Railways.
An Indian Railways spokesman said “repair work is proceeding as per requirements”, but tampering with the automated system is not allowed. He declined to elaborate on the causes of the crash, saying “the investigation is ongoing”.
Amitabh Sharma, chief information officer of the Ministry of Railways, said the cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Asked about investigators’ suspicions that the electronic system may have been manually bypassed, Mr Sharma said: “These are all speculations that we cannot confirm at this time.”
