So IR seems to have some clues for now;
Quick fix for green signal to Coromandel likely cause of Odisha train accident
Malfunctioning level-crossing gate may have led to ‘tampering’ of ‘location box’.
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Written by Avishek G Dastidar
New Delhi | Updated: June 6, 2023 22:22 IST
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AS THE Railway Board recommended handing over the probe into the
Odisha train accident to the CBI, at least six officers The Indian Express spoke with said the Coromandel Express took the loop line instead of the main line and collided with a goods train most likely because of “tampering of the location box” near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station.
The sequence of events leading to the crash and derailment of the train, officers said, was probably triggered by a malfunctioning level-crossing gate — its boom barrier was not working — before the station. In one version, the barrier remained raised, and in another, it did lower but the signal continued to be red. In both cases, it was a problem, they said.
For the officials manning the Bahanaga Bazar station, Friday was just another day at work. Their job was to just let the Coromandel Express “through”, which takes a few seconds. So, to get around the problem of the boom barrier, some Railway officials or the signalling technician on the ground “looped” the ‘location box’.
A ‘location box’, typically placed along tracks, holds a junction of connections to the point motor (the movable piece of rail that physically guides a train to its designated track when there are two divergent tracks), the signalling lights, the track-occupancy detectors, and virtually every critical piece that makes the ‘interlocking’ work seamlessly. Interlocking is a crucial safety mechanism and ensures trains move without any conflict with each other, preventing accidents.
In the ‘fail-safe’ logic built into Railway’s interlocking system, the main line on which the Coromandel Express was to pass, could not have got a “green” signal — a line clear signal — if the boom barrier of the level crossing was not down.
By looping the location box, the technician achieved an “all clear” signal for the Coromandel Express, overriding the fail-safe logic manually. In other words, the technician manually “completed” the circuit, bypassing certain nodes in a manner that the system would not recognise anything was amiss.
“This would have gone undetected but for one thing. The point, 17A,” said a senior official who is in the know of things. This manual act did not relay to the system that while the “all clear” signal was achieved, the point remained directed towards the loop line.
When asked, a Railway spokesperson said the matter was under investigation. “CRS (Commissioner of Railway Safety) as well as CBI probes have been ordered. The matter is under investigation, so we would not like to comment on anything,” the spokesperson told The Indian Express Monday.
AS THE Railway Board recommended handing over the probe into the
Odisha train accident to the CBI, at least six officers The Indian Express spoke with said the Coromandel Express took the loop line instead of the main line and collided with a goods train most likely because of “tampering of the location box” near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station.
The sequence of events leading to the crash and derailment of the train, officers said, was probably triggered by a malfunctioning level-crossing gate — its boom barrier was not working — before the station. In one version, the barrier remained raised, and in another, it did lower but the signal continued to be red. In both cases, it was a problem, they said.
For the officials manning the Bahanaga Bazar station, Friday was just another day at work. Their job was to just let the Coromandel Express “through”, which takes a few seconds. So, to get around the problem of the boom barrier, some Railway officials or the signalling technician on the ground “looped” the ‘location box’.
A ‘location box’, typically placed along tracks, holds a junction of connections to the point motor (the movable piece of rail that physically guides a train to its designated track when there are two divergent tracks), the signalling lights, the track-occupancy detectors, and virtually every critical piece that makes the ‘interlocking’ work seamlessly. Interlocking is a crucial safety mechanism and ensures trains move without any conflict with each other, preventing accidents.
In the ‘fail-safe’ logic built into Railway’s interlocking system, the main line on which the Coromandel Express was to pass, could not have got a “green” signal — a line clear signal — if the boom barrier of the level crossing was not down.
Railway officials, technicians and workers remove derailed coaches from the tracks at the accident site in Balasore on Sunday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
By looping the location box, the technician achieved an “all clear” signal for the Coromandel Express, overriding the fail-safe logic manually. In other words, the technician manually “completed” the circuit, bypassing certain nodes in a manner that the system would not recognise anything was amiss.
“This would have gone undetected but for one thing. The point, 17A,” said a senior official who is in the know of things. This manual act did not relay to the system that while the “all clear” signal was achieved, the point remained directed towards the loop line.
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When asked, a Railway spokesperson said the matter was under investigation. “CRS (Commissioner of Railway Safety) as well as CBI probes have been ordered. The matter is under investigation, so we would not like to comment on anything,” the spokesperson told
The Indian Express Monday.
Union Railway Minister
Ashwini Vaishnaw has already said that the “root cause” of the accident and the people responsible have been identified. At Balasore, he said on Sunday, “Whoever has done this has done such a change on the point machine, the configuration of the track based on which everything runs… there has been a change in that configuration, because of which this painful accident has happened.”
A senior government source said the Railways inquiry cannot find out if there was mens rea — the knowledge of wrongdoing — and further that cause of the accident was neither technical or negligence. “Only the CBI can determine the criminality,” the source said, requesting anonymity.
Those in the Railways dealing with this said signal maintainers and others at the station are well authorised by codes and manuals to officially disconnect an interlocking system for any reason, if they think safety is at risk. Pointing to a possible explanation why technicians on the ground “tampered” with the location box, the officials said, this helped them bypass a cumbersome “due process” of disconnecting an interlocking system that is also time consuming.
The due process requires signalling technicians to first furnish a “disconnection memo” to the station master, who would then authorise switching off the interlocking system. This would mean switching to manual mode: the signal would have to be flagged manually, and for that the point would have to be set and locked manually. For longer duration maintenance jobs, the station master would effect a “traffic block” when no train operation is allowed for a while.
Following the due process would have meant a delay or holding up of the Coromandel Express as well as the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express.
When contacted, a South Eastern Railway spokesperson said no station official has been suspended so far. “There is a process that is followed in these cases. Currently their statements, etc are being recorded.”
In an internal multidisciplinary joint-note on Saturday, which said that a signalling failure led to the accident, the Railways’ signalling department had given a “dissent note”. “The point of derailment (is) before the level crossing gate no 94 that is before point 17A,” the dissent note said. It said the data logger — the digital recording of the live status of the interlocking system displayed at the station master’s room and elsewhere — showed everything was fine.
On Monday, the Railways Ministry ordered a countrywide week-long safety drive with special focus on ensuring security of its signalling apparatus at stations.
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