Odisha train accident not due to driver's fault, says Railway expert Sudhanshu Mani

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 4 (ANI): Railway expert Sudhanshu Mani on Sunday said that it is not in the hands of the driver which route the train will take and in the Odisha train accident, it was not the driver's fault.
While talking to ANI, Sudhanshu Mani said, "I feel there is tampering. Whether sabotage happened or there is an error from maintenance staff is a subject of investigation. The route was set for the main line by the staff and there is no fault of the driver. He was running at full speed, instead of coming in the loop line, he went to the main line as track was set, after which the accident happened."
He stated that safety procedures should have been in place so that two trains do not come on the same line.
"Which route the train will take is is not in the hands of the driver, where the track takes him, the train runs on the same. Safety should have been maintained that two trains do not come together on the same line, whether in the loop line or in the mail line. There is a set of interlocking, in this interlocking works, it is called electronic interlocking," he said.
"Interlocking failure can happen but in case of interlocking failure, it will go into safe mode, where accident situation will not arise. Whether it is a case of tampering or a shortcut was applied or whether it was done with some criminal intent will be only known after the investigation," he added.
He further mentioned that it is difficult to analyze whether Kavach electronic safety system would have prevented the train accident in Odisha.
"People don't know the difference between Anti Collision Device and Kavach. Let me tell you that even if it had Kavach, and if it was was tampered with, the Kavach would consider it as the route of the mail line and when it reaches near the point, it would have come to know through RFID that the train is now going on the wrong route. But without understanding the function of Kavach, it is wrong to say that if there was Kavach, the accident would have been avoided," he said.
Meanwhile, 275 people have been killed and over 1000 were left injured after the tragic three-train accident in Odisha's Balasore on Friday night.
Seventeen coaches of two passenger trains were de-railed in Odisha, when Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Coromandel Express and a goods train collided at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Balasore district.
Earlier today Railway Board member Jaya Varma Sinha citing premiliary investigation said there was some issue with the signalling and only Coromandel Express met with an accident in Balasore.
"According to the preliminary findings, there has been some issue with the signalling. We are still waiting for the detailed report from the Commissioner of Railway Safety. Only Coromandal Express met with an accident. The train was at a speed of around 128 km/h," Jaya Varma Sinha said.
"The derailed bogies of Coromandel Express came on the downline and hit the last two bogies of Yashwantpur Express which was crossing at the speed of 126 km/h from downline," she added. (ANI)