Railway Board on June 4 elaborated on the events that resulted in the fatal triple train accident in Odisha’s Balasore on June 2 night. The disastrous collision killed nearly 300 people and left more than 1,000 injured.
Railways Minister Ahswini Vaishnaw has reasoned an issue with the “electronic interlocking system” behind the train crash.
How Did the Collision Happen?
Jaya Verma Sinha, Member, Operations & BD, Railway Board, explains:
- The Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, the place of the accident, is a four-line station.
- There are two main lines in the centre and two loop lines on edges, either side. There were goods trains on both the loop lines laden with iron ore.
- The Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express was going from Chennai to Howrah, while Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express was coming from Howrah.
- Notably, it was a green signal on both main lines.
- Coromandel Express was moving at 128 kmph. The Superfast Express had a speed of 126 kmph.
- The speed limit is 130 kmph which means both trains were not overspeeding.
- Coromandel changes track. It shifted from Main Line to Loop Line after signaling failure and hitting the freight train.
- The Coromandel Express derailed due to the impact of hitting. The rear of the Howrah Superfast Express collided with the derailed train.
The details will emerge as the investigation progresses, but till now, a signaling problem has been detected as a root cause. Ms. Sinha said the reaction time to bring the situation within control was less as the trains were moving at high speed.
“There was signaling interference,” she said.
The Railway Board reiterated what the Railways Minister emphasized, these are just initial findings, and nothing concrete could be shared until the formal inquiry is over.
Ms. Sinha stressed that only one train, the Coromandel Express, and not three, contrary to popular view, suffered an accident.
“For some reason, that train met with an accident, and the engine and coach went over it,” she said. She claimed that because the goods train was so heavy, it took all the impact of the crash, and Coromandel Express collided with an iron ore-filled freight train that was stationed on one of the loop lines. According to her, coaches from the Coromandel Express were forced off onto the third track and collided with a few coaches of the train speeding towards them from Howrah.
“There were Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, they are very safe,” she said, adding that damage was worse due to the iron ore.
Was Kavach Available On The Route?
The railways clarified “Kavach” was not available on the route.
Ms. Sinha, rebutting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s question on the absence of Kavach, restated the Railways Minister’s statement that the crash has no connection with Kavach as it wouldn’t have helped avert such an accident. No technology around the globe can prevent some accidents, she said.
What Is Kavach?
It is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in 2002 with the Indian industry to achieve safety in train operations across Indian Railways.
In the 2022 Union Budget, Kavach was a part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiative.
Kavach activates the train braking system automatically in cases where the driver fails to adhere to the speed restrictions.
Also, it prevents smash-ups between two Locomotives equipped with a functional KAVACH system.
This system is a Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL-4) certified technology with a probability of an error being 1 in 10,000 years.
On implementation, Kavach will be classified as the cheapest automatic train collision protection system worldwide, costing ₹50 lakh per kilometer to operate against about ₹2 crores worldwide.