CBI Probe Recommended into Odisha Train Accident: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said the Railway Board has recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Odisha train accident which killed at least 275 people.

Talking to the media, Vaishnaw said, "Rescue operation was completed and restoration work is underway. The work related to the track is done and overhead wiring work is going on. Patients are being treated at hospitals. Along with rescue operation, the restoration work was also started."

"The way this accident happened, looking at the conditions, and according to the administrative information. The Railway Board is recommending the probe to the CBI," he added.

The Union Minister had said earlier in the day that the accident occurred due to a "change in electronic interlocking". "It happened due to a change made in the electronic interlocking and point machine," he told reporters at the site of the accident in Balasore district.

The top railway officials explained how the point machine and the interlocking system function. They said the system is "error proof" and "fail safe" but did not rule out the possibility of outside intervention.

"It is called a fail safe system, so it means that even if it fails, all the signals will turn red and all train operations will stop. Now, as the minister said there was a problem with the signalling system. It could be that someone has done some digging without seeing the cables. Running of any machine is prone to failures," Jaya Verma Sinha, Member of Operation and Business Development, Railway Board, said.

The crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train occurred around 7 PM on Friday near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar.

On the other hand, officials on Sunday also gave the driver of the Coromandel Express (Coromandel Express) a clean chit by stating that he had the green signal to move forward and he was "not over-speeding".

"It could be a case of tampering or sabotage from within or from outside. We have not ruled anything out," the senior railway official who did not want to be identified said.

Meanwhile, Industrialist Gautam Adani on Sunday announced that the Adani Group will take the responsibility of school education of children who have lost their parents in the recent Odisha train tragedy.

"We all are deeply distressed by the Orissa train accident. We have decided that the Adani group will take the responsibility of the school education of the innocent people who have lost their parents in this accident. It is the joint responsibility of all of us to provide strength to the victims and their families and better tomorrow to the children," he said on Twitter.