Just weeks before the train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district that killed at least 289, the Railway Board had in April asked all zonal heads to instruct their staff to avoid “short-cut methods”, citing five “unsafe” incidents where signaling gears were reconnected without proper checks after maintenance works, it has now emerged.
The Railway Board termed the instances “alarming” and asked all general managers (GMs) to review these aspects every week in safety meetings at the divisional and headquarter levels.
In a letter dated April 3, the board wrote to all zonal heads, “Recently, five incidences on unsafe side involving points have taken place on various Zonal Railways. This is alarming and an issue of serious concern.”
The letter accessed by Hindustan Times further said, “The signalling gears were reconnected by S&T [signalling and telecom] staff 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. Same are potential hazards to safety in train operations and need to be stopped.”
It may be noted that the letter was sent nearly two months before the tragic Balasore train accident on the evening of June 2. Three trains – Kolkata-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a freight train – were involved in a collision, one of the worst railway tragedies in the country leaving at least 289 dead and nearly 1,100 injured.
At present, two parallel investigations into the incident are underway, one by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) and another by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The board had in the letter said that such incident indicated that despite repeated instructions by it, the ground situation was not improving and signaling staff were continuing to adopt “short-cut methods” to disconnection/reconnection memo, with operating staff.
The letter to all GMs read, “Joint works with engineering staff, signal maintenance and other repair works requiring disconnection contained in IRSEM (Indian Railway Signal Engineering Manual) should indicate time duration catering provisions for testing signaling 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 signaling system,” it added.
