Why Govt Ignored February's Sampark Kranti Alert, Asks Opposition

While Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has attributed change in electronic interlocking as the reason behind the tragic train accident in Odisha, a similar incident that took place in February has now come to the fore.

Hari Shankar Verma, principal chief operations manager, South Western Railway had raised concerns about the failure of the interlocking system in February and highlighted the need for safety measures to be taken.

"If the signal maintenance system is not monitored and corrected immediately, then it would lead to happening of such re-occurrence and serious accidents," Verma had said.

"A letter was sent to the Rail Ministry by the Principal Chief Operating Manager of South Western Railways in Feb 2023. The letter was about a serious head-on collision between a passenger and a goods train that was, thankfully, prevented in time, tweeted TMC leader Saket Gokhale.

"On 8th Feb, the driver of 12649 Sampark Kranti Express suddenly stopped the train near Hosadurga station after he noticed that interlocking track was set to "down line" while the train was supposed to be on up the line. The driver immediately stopped the train," he said.

"The letter says that if the driver had not shown the presence of mind, Sampark Kranti Express would have CRASHED with a goods train that was coming from the opposite direction. The driver prevented a serious crash that could've caused the deaths of hundreds of people," Salet said quoting an internal letter.

"It highlighted a serious problem in the interlocking 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. The current process of handling signaling cables has allowed this failure of happen," he alleged.

"Most importantly, the letter said that there is an urgent need to fix the system which allowed this incident to happen and to instruct the staff about this safety gap. If not done immediately, there can be a serious crash in the future due to track interlocking failure. Why did Railways IGNORE this letter warning of a system failure where a crash between a passenger and goods train caused by interlocking failure could've led to loss of lives?," he asked.

"Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that interlocking failure was the cause of Odisha train crash. He ignored warnings from railway officials warning of problems in the track interlocking and signaling system. Criminal negligence led to deaths of almost 300 people in Odisha. He must resign, " he demanded.