Odisha train accident: Railway Ministry ignored warning about serious flaws in interlocking system

It has come to the light that an official of South Western Railway had warned about serious flaws in the system three months ago

Hyderabad: Even as Railway safety officials engaged in the investigation on the Odisha train accident are blaming the change in electronic interlocking for the tragic incident, it has come to the light that an official of South Western Railway had warned about serious flaws in the system three months ago.

A letter written to the Railway Ministry by Hari Shankar Verma, Principal Chief Operating Manager, South Western Railway, in February has come to light in which he tried to bring attention to issues with regard to signalling and interlocking systems.

---

Verma informed that on February 8, the driver of 12649 Sampark Kranti Express suddenly stopped the train near Hosadurga station after he noticed that the interlocking track was set to “down line” while the train was supposed to be on “up line”. The driver immediately stopped the train.

The letter says that if the driver had not shown presence of mind, Sampark Kranti Express would have crashed with a goods train which was coming from the opposite direction. “The incident indicates that there are “serious flaws in the system where the route of dispatch gets altered after a train starts on signals with the correct appearance of route on the SMS panel. This contravenes the essence and basic principles of interlocking,” he wrote.

The letter further stated that there is a serious problem in the inter-locking system where the route of the train gets suddenly changed after it gets a signal. There was a failure in the system which didn’t alert the station master to this unusual track change, it added.

The letter specifically mentioned that repeated and persistent counselling of maintenance staff is the need of the hour along with detailed inspection as mandated in the signal manual. Though the SSE/JE/Signal maintainers are not classified under Safety Category by Railway Board, while they are actively involved in works which directly affects the safety in train operations, the official said.

“When we talk high of ourselves that the system is fail-safe, then how anybody can meddle with the interlocking gears without opening the Relay Room 11 is astonishing to see that such occurrences are happening with investing a lot of money on signalling gear with world class safety attached to them,” he remarked.

The officer had also warned if the signal maintenance system was not monitored and corrected immediately, it could lead to “re-occurrences and serious accidents. “It is high time that some serious work is done on this front to ensure that the precious lives and Safety of travelling public and railway men are not put in risk,” he said.

However, the letter appears to have been ignored by the powers that be.