The horrific train accident in Odisha’s Balasore has created ripples in the country with people asking questions about the possible operational lapses that lead to the tragedy.
The tragedy has left over 260 people dead until now and over 900 injured.
“Between 6.50 pm and 7.10 pm on Friday, two collisions took place at Odisha's Balasore between three trains, leaving a mass of wrecked compartments and coaches on top of one another,” mentioned a report in NDTV.
It added a passenger train, the Coromandel Shalimar Express, derailed after hitting a parked goods train and another train, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast, crashed into the derailed coaches.
“The impact was so hard that coaches were lifted high into the air before they smashed onto the tracks. One coach was tossed on its roof. Seventeen coaches of the two trains were severely damaged,” it mentioned.
The Railways Ministry has ordered a probe into what may have caused the crash.
“There are more than one versions of how the back-to-back crashes took place, but what is certain is that there were three trains and two collisions at the same spot,” it said.
“Among the many questions surrounding the accident is how the Coromandel Shalimar Express was on the same track as the stationary goods train. Was it a technical glitch or a human error?” the report said.
It also said many raised the possibility of a signal error.
The Railways Ministry has been in the process of installing an anti-collision system "Kavach" across the country.
“Kavach” alerts when a train jumps a signal (Signal Passed at Danger -- SPAD), which is the leading cause of train collisions. The system can alert the train driver, take control of the brakes and stop the train when it notices another train on the same tracks.
It said Kavach was not available on the route involved in the accident, said Railways spokesperson Amitabh Sharma.
