Is the Odisha train accident an outcome of sabotage? Why CBI has been called in
Is the Odisha train accident an outcome of sabotage? Why CBI has been called in
It’s been four days since the Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train near Odisha’s Balasore, claiming the lives of 275 people and injured 1,100. Authorities have worked tirelessly to clear the accident site and now the focus has moved to the injured and the cause of the deadly crash.
On Monday, officials said that there were still 101 bodies to be identified and another 200 people were still being treated in various hospitals in Odisha. Divisional Railway Manager of the Eastern Central Railways Rinkesh Roy told news agency ANI, “About 1,100 people were injured in the accident, out of which about 900 people were discharged after treatment. Around 200 people are being treated in various hospitals in the state. Out of 278 people who died in the accident, 101 bodies are yet to be identified.”
Even as family members and friends search for their loved ones in hospitals, many are questioning how this rail accident, considered one of the worst in the country, took place. There are many who believe that the crash was the outcome of sabotage. Dinesh Trivedi, the former Railways Minister, is one of the first to mention the likelihood of sabotage. Hours after the incident he told News 18 that the “possibility of sabotage behind the accident cannot be ruled out”.
Was it really sabotage? Was it a case of human error? These questions will be answered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who began their probe on Monday evening.
Sabotage in play?
After Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who’s been camping at the accident site and supervising the search-and-rescue operations, said on Sunday that a CBI probe was needed, a 10-member team arrived at the spot on Monday and began their investigations.
This comes after he told national broadcaster Doordarshan that the “root cause” of the accident and the people responsible for it have been identified. Vaishnaw said a change in the configuration of the track may be the cause and that “whoever has done this will be not spared”. An NDTV report, had Vaishnaw saying that a change in the configuration of the track may be the cause and that “whoever has done this will be not spared”.
This statement suggests that the railways minister believes that sabotage was in play and that the tragic incident was caused by human interference.
Railway officials, on Monday, also reiterated their stance that the crash took place because of “deliberate interference” with the electronic interlocking system. They were quoted as telling Times of India that the initial probe by the Railways found some sort of “manual tinkering” was done with the “logic” of the interlocking system in the cabin at Bahanaga Bazar station, which oversees signalling on the stretch.
Another Railways official was quoted as telling PTI, “Unless there is deliberate interference in the system, it is impossible that a route set for the main line is switched to the loop line.”
Earlier too, a senior rail official said that the point machine and the interlocking system function was “error proof” and “fail safe” but did not rule out the possibility of outside intervention.
On Sunday at a press conference, Jaya Verma Sinha, member of operation and business development, Railway Board, said, “It is called a fail-safe system, so it means that even if it fails, all the signals will turn red and all train operations will stop. Now, as the minister said there was a problem with the signalling system. It could be that someone has done some digging without seeing the cables. Running of any machine is prone to failures.”
On Monday, former Rail Minister Dinesh Trivedi also pointed out that sabotage couldn’t be ruled out. In a News18 report, the top West Bengal BJP leader said: “The inputs and understanding I have about the interlocking system, its functioning, and what happened in the incident, I felt that there was a serious manipulation which led the Coromandel Express on the loop line from the main track. Now with more findings coming up, I am more than 100 per cent sure that this crash was caused by sabotage and not a mere accident.”
He further added that if the signal was green it would have been impossible for the system to malfunction. “In a railway system, so many coincidences do not happen. If an interlocking system at any point fails or goes haywire, there is another system that comes into force. It is called ‘fail-safe’. If fail-safe gets activated, then all signals on the specific track turn red, and the train won’t move,” he added.
SK Sinha, an Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) alum who founded L2M Rail – a startup committed to boosting safety and sustainability of the Railway Industry, also opined that human interference played a role in the crash. He told NDTV, “All events are recorded and available for post-event analysis, and I am sure officials would be studying the data logs to understand what went wrong. The electronic interlocking systems used in Indian Railways are quite robust and conform to the highest level of safety standards and it is unlikely that it would have failed on its own.”
He also added that damage to tracks by humans is a possibility that should be looked at.
A flaw in the system?
If not sabotage, the CBI will be looking at a possibility of a flaw in the system itself. A similar incident had occurred earlier at Balasore this February, but officials had averted a tragedy. It was the alertness of loco pilot of Sampark Kranti Express who stopped the train in between Shivani and Ramagini in Birur-Chikjajur section after observing the fault in the interlocking system and managed to prevent a major train accident.
Also read: Should railways ministers resign after train accidents? A look at past records
Earlier, Commissioner Railway Safety S K Pathak in his report on the derailment of Malda-New Delhi Express at Harchandpur station of Raebareli-Lucknow section on 10 October 2018, had also pointed out the flaws in the system and recommended course correction.
All not happy with CBI probe?
The Centre’s decision for a CBI probe has, however, set off a political firestorm. The Congress on Monday hit out at the Railways for seeking a CBI probe, saying the agency is meant to investigate crimes and not train accidents.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which read: “The CBI, or any other law enforcement agency, cannot fix accountability for technical, institutional and political failures. In addition, they lack the technical expertise in railway safety, signalling, and maintenance practices.”
Opposition parties also rejected a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), accusing the central agency of “working at the behest of the BJP” and demanded that a court-monitored investigation by the central SIT be conducted into the case.
With inputs from agencies
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