KOLKATA: Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who visited the train accident site in Maynaguri in north Bengal on Friday, said a glitch in the locomotive equipment might have led to the mishap. The death toll has gone up to nine from seven and of the 36 injured passengers, condition of 10 is stated to be critical.
Vaishnaw said it appeared that a glitch in the engine equipment of the Guwahati-bound Bikaner Express might have triggered the accident. “The railway safety commissioner is conducting a probe. Forensic tests of the engine will be conducted to ascertain what exactly led to the mishap. It is clear that there was no fault with the railway tracks,” said Vaishnaw.
Sources in the railway said a broken traction motor of the engine, which generates the power to rotate the wheels, was found lying on the tracks. “It appears the driver had applied emergency brakes after the breakdown of the traction motor which might have led to the derailment,” said an official. Twelve coaches of the train got derailed and four of them rolled into a ditch at around 5 pm on Thursday. Railway sources claimed that the train was running at a speed of 40 km per hour because of restrictions, as the area comes under elephant corridors in the Dooars forests.
Replying to allegations of using old coaches which could not bear the impact of the derailment, the railway minister said a process of phasing out old coaches as fast as possible is going on. He visited the injured passengers in the hospital.