‘Human error likely reason’: East Coast Railway on Andhra train accident

According to media reports, the locomotive pilots of Rayagada Passenger and a guard of the Palasa train also died in the accident.

Hyderabad: East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Sunday said a human error could have resulted in the collision of two trains in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district.

“Likely reason: Human error. Overshooting of the signal by Visakhapatnam- Rayagada passenger train,” ECoR CPRO Biswajit Sahoo told reporters here.

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While explaining the term overshooting, the CPRO said it occurs when a train, instead of stopping at a red signal, moves on.

The number of casualties in the train accident rose to 13 while 50 people were injured, Superintendent of Police M Deepika said on Monday.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will be visiting the accident site and also those injured and undergoing treatment in Vizianagaram, official sources said.

Officials of the East Coast Railway (ECR) said at around 7 pm on Sunday, the Palasa Passenger train hit the Rayagada Passenger train from behind at Kantakapalli, about 40 km from here, causing three coaches to derail.

According to media reports, the locomotive pilots of Rayagada Passenger and a guard of the Palasa train also died in the accident.

When contacted, ECR Divisional Railway Manager Saurabh Prasad confirmed the death of the guard.

He further said the rescue operations are still going on and track clearance operations are in full swing.