The Railway Board has made a big disclosure regarding the Odisha train accident. The board said that only the Coromandel Express met with the accident, while the goods train was standing in the loop line. Jaya Verma Sinha, Member, Operations and Business Development, Railway Board, said that the Coromandel Express got the green signal even though the goods train was standing on the loop line. Due to this, the Coromandel train derailed. He said that after the accident, the first relief and rescue work was done by the Railways, after which the repair work is being done.
There are 4 lines at Bahanaga station. It has two main lines. There was a goods train on the loop line. The driver had received the green signal at the station. Both the vehicles were running at their full speed. Preliminary investigation shows that there is a disturbance in the signal. Only the Coromandel Express came in the grip of the incident. Jaya Varma said that according to preliminary findings, “there has been some problem with the signalling. We are still waiting for the detailed report from the Commissioner of Railway Safety. Only the Coromandel Express met with the accident. The train was running at a speed of about 128 km/h.” He further said that the derailed bogies of the Coromandel Express collided with the last two bogies of the Yesvantpur Express.
The derailed bogies of the Coromandel Express came on the downline and collided with the last two bogies of the Yesvantpur Express, which was passing through the downline at 126 km/h. The goods train did not derail. Since the goods train was carrying iron ore, the Coromandel Express suffered the most damage. This is the reason for the death and injuries of a large number of people. Jaya Verma Sinha said that ‘Kavach’ is a system made in India. In the coming future, we will also be able to export it. It is related to the safety of the railway. That’s why we have done its rigorous testing. The Railway Minister himself sat in the train and checked it. Installing this device on all lines and trains will take time and money.
Today by around eight o’clock in the evening, we will get two lines, on which the train will start moving at a slow speed. The matter is under investigation. Prima facie it seems that there must have been some problem due to the signal. Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said that yesterday the Railways had shared that the death toll has reached 288. Last night DM and his entire team examined each and every dead body. The data was checked by the DM and it was found that some bodies were counted twice, hence the death toll has been revised to 275. Of the 1,175 injured, 793 have been discharged after treatment.