Odisha train tragedy: Weeks before accident, Railway Board flagged 'shortcuts' by signalling staff

Weeks before the June 2 Odisha train accident which killed more than 288 people, the Railway Board had in April pulled up its signalling staffers for using "shortcuts" in the way signalling gears were reconnected by them after maintenance work without proper testing of points.

The Board, in a letter dated April 3, said five such incidents came to light from various zones, PTI reported. Five incidents on the unsafe side involving points have taken place on various zonal railways, the board had said, terming these "alarming and an issue of serious concern".

The letter, as per news agency PTI, said, "The signalling gears were reconnected by signal and telecom staffers without proper testing of points after blocks for switch/turnout replacement, wrong wiring during preparatory works, attending signal failures etc."

Such practices reflect dilution of manual and codal provisions, it said. It further added that the same is a potential hazard to safety in train operations and needs to be stopped.

The Board expressed its dissatisfaction with its signalling department and said that these incidents indicate that despite repeated instructions, ground situation is not improving and the signalling staffers are continuing to adopt "shortcut methods" for clearing signals without checking correspondence from the site and without proper exchange of disconnection/re-connection memo with operating staff.

"Joint works with engineering staffers, signal maintenance and other repair works requiring disconnection contained in IRSEM should indicate time duration catering provisions for testing signalling gears after completion of engineering works in case of joint activities. The gears should be reconnected only after proper testing to ascertain safe certification of the signalling system," it said.

The June 2 crash at Bahanaga Bazar station, in the Balasore district of Odisha, killed at least 288 people and injured more than 1,000. It was India's worst rail crash in two decades. The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying around 2,500 passengers, and a goods train.

Railway officials and the minister had indicated signal interference as the possible cause of accident.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has officially taken over the investigation into the triple train crash incident. The CBI filed an FIR under Sections 337 (whoever causes hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life), 338 (causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others), 304 A (causing death by negligence), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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