Sunday marked the end of the rescue operation and the search for survivors. At least 275 individuals were killed and nearly 1,200 were injured in the crash.
India’s fatal train accident was likely caused by a signaling failure that led to a train improperly switching tracks, according to the country’s railway minister.
Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that there was a problem with the “electronic interlocking” – a system that regulates the tracks and signals sequencing through the use of sensors and feedback.
“Whoever did it and how it occurred will be determined after a thorough investigation,” he continued.
The disaster caused at least 275 deaths and nearly 1,200 injuries.
The mortality toll was revised downward after officials discovered that some bodies were counted twice.
On Sunday, authorities concluded rescue operations and began clearing the wreckage of the two passenger trains that derailed in the Balasore district of Odisha state on Friday night.
More than a thousand individuals participated in the rescue in eastern India.
The preliminary investigation, according to Jaya Verma Sinha, a senior railway official, revealed that the high-speed Coromandel Express was given the signal to run on the main track, but the signal was subsequently changed.
The train instead entered an adjacent loop line, a parking track, where it collided with a goods train carrying iron ore.
The accident pushed the Coromandel carriages onto another track, derailing the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express.
Ms. Verma Sinha added that the passenger trains, which were transporting 2,296 individuals, were not rushing.
“The mechanism is 99.9% flawless. However, 0.1% errors are always possible,” she said.
When asked if the disaster could have been the result of sabotage, she responded, “Nothing is ruled out.”
Mr. Vaishnaw stated on Saturday that families of those killed will receive one million rupees (£9,750) in compensation, while those severely injured will receive 200,000 rupees (£1,950) and those with minor injuries will receive 50,000 rupees (£487).
India’s 1.42 billion people’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has tried to modernise the British colonial-era railway network.
As he visited the crash site and spoke with survivors in the hospital, he vowed those responsible “the harshest punishment.”
Despite efforts to enhance safety, each year several hundred accidents occur. The majority are attributed to human error or obsolete signaling equipment.
President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and French President Emmanuel Macron offered condolences.
The Balasore collision is one of the nation’s deadliest rail accidents in recent decades.
In 1995, a collision between two trains near New Delhi killed 358 persons. In 2016, 146 persons were killed when a passenger train derailed between the cities of Indore and Patna.
Every day, approximately 22 million passengers ride 14,000 trains across India.
