Tamil Nadu Train Accident: A day after a passenger train collided with a parked goods train near Chennai, experts and union leaders said that according to a data-logger video, the Mysore-Darbhanga Express train was given the green signal to pass through the main line but it was a Went on the loop line on which a goods train was already standing.
Train number 12578, Mysore-Darbhanga Bagmati Express, collided with a goods train parked at Kavarapettai railway station in Chennai Railway Division of Tamil Nadu at around 8.30 pm on Friday (October 11), injuring nine passengers. A data logger is a device placed in the station area to record train movements and signaling aspects, among other things.
Data logger video went viral on social media
The ‘yard-simulation’ video of this data logger has been circulated in WhatsApp groups of senior railway officials since Saturday (October 12) morning, drawing their attention to the similarity between this accident and the Balasore train accident of June 2, 2023 . When contacted, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Southern Railway said that he was not aware of any such video and several investigations had already been initiated in connection with the collision.
Railway Board also accepted this
In a press statement issued late on Friday night, the Railway Board also admitted that the passenger train was given green signal for the main line, but it suffered a setback and came to the loop line, due to which it collided with the goods train. Orders have been given for a high level investigation into the incident.
Balasore train accident mistake repeated again?
The board said on Saturday that the Commissioner of Railway Safety would conduct a detailed investigation as he visited the accident site in the morning. At Balasore, the Howrah-bound Coromandel Express was cleared for the main line but, due to wrong connection of tracks, it went on the loop line and collided with a standing goods train.
President of All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) of Southern Railway, R. Kumaresan said, “Based on publicly available information, it appears that this collision is almost a repeat of the Balasore train accident on June 2, 2023. Railways should take a serious approach to remove anomalies in the signaling system.”
Did the accident happen due to technical fault?
According to safety experts, in automatic signaling system, the signaling aspect follows the interlocking of tracks. This means that if the signal for the main line is green, the interlocking will automatically be set in such a way that the train will come on the main line.
“The lack of coordination between the signaling aspect and the interlocking is due to some fault in the signaling system,” said a security expert on condition of anonymity. “Prima facie, it appears to be some kind of technical glitch.”
Sanjay Pandhi, executive president of the Indian Railways Loco Runningmen’s Organization (IRLRO), expressed surprise as according to him all previous trains passed through the station “without any abnormality in the signaling and interlocking system”. Pandhi said, “The collision occurred soon after the signal repair work was completed in Balasore. In contrast, no such incident took place at Kavarapettai railway station and train operations remained normal.”
He said, “It appears that some malfunction may have occurred, which may have been due to rusting of mechanical equipment etc., due to which the coordination of signals and interlocking may have been broken.”
K.P. retired from the post of Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer/Information Technology in Northern Railway. “The yard-simulation video of the data logger shows that the train in question is plying on both the main line as well as the loop line, which is not possible,” Arya said.
He said, “Therefore, there is a possibility that the train may have derailed at the interlocking point and the engine and some coaches moved towards the loop line and collided with the goods train, while the remaining coaches scattered here and there and also came on the main line.” Were.”
