Engineers' negligence blamed for B'luru-Ernakulam train accident

March 8, 2015, Bengaluru, DHNS

 A preliminary investigation into the derailment of the Bengaluru-Ernakulam Intercity Express near Anekal on the outskirts Bengaluru on February 13 has indicated that the negligence of railway engineers had led to accident.

Nine passengers were killed and 30 injured in the accident. A day before the accident, on February 12, welding of railway tracks was taken up on the particular stretch. However, the railway engineers had not bothered to give directions to the loco pilots to reduce the speed of the train the next day, official sources told Deccan Herald.

“The engineers from the railway department should have instructed the loco pilot of the Ernakulam-bound Intercity Express (Train No 12677) to move at a speed of 30 km per hour. On the day of the accident, the loco pilot, A T Fernandes, was piloting the train at the usual speed of 65 km per hour.

The accident occurred because of this. The speed at which the train was moving when the coaches derailed has been recorded in the loco motor,” said a senior railway official. The investigation into the accident is being carried out by Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, Sathish Kumar Mittal, and the negligence of divisional engineers is said to have been established.

A copy of the preliminary report is said to have been submitted to the police by the technical department of the railways. “The rails recovered from the accident spot have been sent to the Railway Testing and Research Centre in Lucknow. The experts there will look into it and send the report in 15 days,” said the sources.

Another senior railway official said the reports about a big boulder having fallen on the tracks leading to accident was totally false. “If a boulder had fallen, then the railway engine would have got damaged. Not even a minor damage has happened to the engine and it is intact,” he said.

Young SIs for Railway Police dept

The State government has decided to have young sub-inspectors (SIs) in the Government Railway Police department. During the ongoing SI recruitment, about 15 per cent of the candidates selected would be assigned to the Railway Police department, the Home department has said.

“The SIs selected through direct recruitment will be given postings in the Railway Police department for the first time. In Karnataka, there are 18 railway police stations and the SIs appointed will be deployed at the stations where there is a shortage of staff. There is a government order that the SIs should work in the Railway Police department till they are promoted as inspectors,” sources said.