- Faulty Connections in Signaling System Cause India’s Worst Rail Calamity
- Investigation Findings: Lack of Standard Circuit Diagram and Repair Work Errors
- Safety Concerns Raised: Failure in Standard Operating Procedures and Oversight
An official investigation determined that workers repairing a rail-road barrier in India made faulty connections in the automated signaling system on the network, leading to the country’s worst rail calamity in two decades.
The June 2 Bahanaga Bazar station accident in Odisha killed 288 people and injured over 1,000.
A passenger train hit a stalled freight train, went off the rails, and hit another passenger train.
Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) investigators stated in a report viewed by Reuters that the first collision occurred as a result of modifications made to the signaling circuit to address frequent problems at a nearby rail-road barrier.
Local railway personnel lacked a standard circuit diagram, resulting in a faulty connection in the signaling system when they attempted to repair the boom-barrier circuit while it was inactive, according to the report. It was stated that a malfunctioning system directed the passenger train onto the freight train’s route.
Last month, Reuters reported that railroad barrier repairs may be linked to a manual signalling system bypass.
Indian Railways, the fourth largest railway network in the world, is a government-owned monopoly managed by the Railway Board. The authority reports to the Ministry of Railways.
The rail network is undertaking a $30 billion makeover with gleaming new trains and modern stations as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to improve infrastructure and connectivity. But the accident raised questions about whether safety was receiving sufficient attention.
According to the CRS investigation report, the signal and telecom department failed on multiple levels. And standard operating procedures were not followed during the repair work.
