MoS rules out ‘mandatory’ probe by Commissioner of Railway Safety held after each accident

A day after a train mowed down 61 Dussehra revellers standing on railway tracks to watch Ravan dahan in Amritsar, the Railways on Saturday asserted that it is not responsible for the tragedy and ruled out the mandatory probe by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS). It refused to take any punitive action against the driver of the train.

Union Minister of State (MoS) for Railways Manoj Sinha and Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani both went on record maintaining that the tragedy was not due to the Railways’ fault. Sinha said there was no negligence on the part of the national transporter even as he advised people not to organise such events near tracks.

For his part, Lohani said, “The Commission conducts statutory investigation into railway accidents. This was an incident where people were trespassing on the tracks and not an accident.”

The CRS enquiry is mandated for any rail accidents to enquire into the reasons related to the accidents on rail tracks and thereby, prepare a dossier so that such a case is prevented in future. In this case, though the accident took place on the rail tracks, the railways has made it clear it was not at fault for once.

Responding to a query, Sinha said that as per his information, no permission had been sought or intimation given for the Dussehra event at Amritsar. “I have been informed the event was organised near the railway tracks and the people did not hear the train coming. It is extremely sad,” Sinha told reporters while leaving for Amritsar. 

When asked whether the railways were aware of the celebrations taking place near the railway tracks, he said, “Railways did not have information about the celebration. I spoke to the railway officials, they did not know. It is the responsibility of the local administration, which should be careful about such events.” The Minister said the venue was nearly 70 metres from the accident spot which was not of the Railways.

Giving clean chit to train driver, the Minister said drivers are given specific instructions on where to slow down the train. “There was a curve. The driver couldn’t have seen it. What should we order an enquiry for? Trains travel in speed only,” said Sinha when he was asked if an enquiry would be ordered against the driver.

Lohani explained the accident site falls under the “mid-section of the two stations” where the trains run at their “assigned speed” as per the condition of the track. “Trains run at their assigned speed and people are not expected to go on tracks,” he said.

Northern Railways spokesperson Deepak Kumar said neither the area administration nor the organisers informed it about any Dusshera ceremony at the spot. “Therefore granting permission from the Railways does not arise,” he added. No information about the event was given to the Railway authorities by the civil administration.”

So far, all accidents, besides Railways doing its own enquiry, are done by the CRS.

In recent past, two major accidents, one involving Malda Train near Rae Bareli and the Utkal Express, are being probed by the CRS and in its preliminary reports submitted last week it has implicated concerned rail staff.

It is significant to note that all mishaps on the level crossings is also to be enquired by the CRS as is the Amritsar incident which too happened near a level crossing.

A senior Railway Ministry official, however, admitted that the loco-pilots of the Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) Jalandhar-Amritsar Passenger train did not apply emergency brakes.

“He informed the station master at Amritsar about the train hitting the crowd immediately after the accident,” he said. He told the Amritsar official that the incident happened some 340 metres from an interlocked level crossing. The official agreed that the gateman should have communicated to the nearest station about the assembly of a large crowd near the railway crossing that had spilled over on to the tracks.

The station master should have been informed and he should have alerted the loco-pilots. Video clips posted on the social media showed some people who had apparently seen the approaching train trying to run away as train came mowing down all on its path.