An error in an electronic signalling system sent trains onto the wrong tracks, resulting in trains colliding and killing 288 people in India’s northeast, in Odisha State.
A signal was sent to the high-speed Coromandel Express to run on the main track but the signal later changed, resulting in the train instead going onto an adjacent loop line where it rammed a freight train filled with iron ore.
The collision flipped Coromandel Express’s coaches onto another track, causing the incoming Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express from the opposite side to slam into the wreckage and also derail, said a senior railway official.
The passenger trains, carrying 2,296 people, were not going above the speed limit. Trains that carry goods are often held on an adjacent loop line so the main line is clear for passing trains carrying passengers.
It is not yet clear whether the signalling error was human or technical. India’s railway minister, however, suggested that it was caused by human error. “We have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it,” he said, adding it was “not appropriate” to give details before a final inquiry report is complete.
The electronic interlocking system is a safety mechanism designed to prevent train collisions. It also monitors the status of signals that tell train operators how close they are to the next train, how fast they can go, and the presence of stationary trains on tracks.
“The system is 99.9 percent error-free. But 0.1 percent chances are always there for an error,” the railway minister said. Asked by a reporter whether the crash could be a case of sabotage, she said: “Nothing is ruled out.”
Officials worked to clear the mangled wreckage of the two passenger trains as people searched hospitals and morgues for missing family members. The search is complicated by the fact that people with major injuries have often been moved to cities with larger, more state-of-the-art hospitals.
Today, the only visible remains of the disaster were a few mangled, overturned train cars. Railway workers labored under the hot sun to fix broken tracks. A crew with excavators was taking away mud and debris to clear the crash site.
Fifteen bodies were found last night, and recovery efforts continued overnight with heavy cranes removing an engine that obstructed the openings of a railcar. No bodies were found in the engine and attempts to recover bodies and injured people ceased this morning.
The deadly derailment occurred at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is trying to modernize the British colonial-era railroad network in India, whose population has rapidly increased. India is now the most populous country on Earth, with 1.42 billion people, more than China, which used to be the most populous country before its birthrate collapsed due to policies like its one-child policy limiting many households to just one kid.
Government inefficiency and corruption saps safety efforts and infrastructure investment in India. As a result, hundreds of accidents take place every year on India’s railways, the fourth largest train network in the world.
Prime Minister Modi visited the crash site yesterday and talked to rescue officials. He also visited a hospital and spoke to some recovering crash victims and their families.
The prime minister told reporters he felt the pain of the crash victims. He said his government would do whatever it could to help them and strictly punish anyone whose negligence contributed to the collision.
It has been many years since India experienced a train crash this bad. In 1995, two trains crashed into each other near India’s capital, New Delhi, killing 358 people. Seven years ago, a passenger train slid off the tracks going toward the city of Patna, killing 146 people.
Most such crashes in India are blamed on human mistakes or outmoded signalling equipment.
