Just as officials suggest signal interference could have caused the Odisha train tragedy, a letter by Railway Board, purportedly written on April 3, has surfaced which points at its staff using "shortcuts" for clearing signals.
The letter shared by the Congress on Wednesday said a Railway Board member had pulled up five incidents from various zones to raise the issue, wherein the staff reconnected signalling gears without proper testing.
The letter was tweeted by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who asked whether the CBI would inquire into why the letter was written and what action was taken as part of the follow-up.
As the CBI investigates the Balasore train disaster will it also inquire why this letter was written and what follow up action was taken? pic.twitter.com/tYxqxHTko4
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 14, 2023
Railway Board member (Infrastructure) R.N. Sunkar wrote to the general managers of all zonal railways to review these aspects every week in safety meetings at the divisional and headquarters levels.
The letter 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."
The letter added that such practices are hazardous to train safety and need to be stopped.
The letter added that despite repeated instructions, the "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 memos 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 Railway Board also said several infrastructure works are under progress with stringent targets, and officers and staffers on the field need to be sensitised that the integrity of the signalling system was of utmost importance from a safety point of view. "These aspects need to be reviewed in weekly safety meetings at divisional and headquarters levels," the letter said.
As many as 288 people lost their lives and over 1,000 were injured in the three-train crash on June 2. 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.
