NEW DELHI: Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the spot of derailment of the Bandra Terminus-Jodhpur Suryanagari Express in Jodhpur. He inspected the railway tracks himself along with other technical officials and spotted a minor defect inside the railway tracks that could have been a cause for derailment.
Vaishnaw, himself being an engineer before joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), minutely discussed and inspected the tracks and other technical issues.
Later, speaking to the media, the railway minister said that no sign of stress in the railway tracks was spotted from outside in a minutely observed inspection except for a minor defect suspected inside the rail tracks.
"I have ordered to replace an entire lot of railway tracks over 1900 km of railway length from across the country that was manufactured in the same level of heat the rail tracks on which derailment had occurred", the minister told the media.
He also said that a detailed probe in on and whatever faults are ascertained would be redressed.
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A senior official, preferring anonymity, said that the minister himself sat near the damaged railway tracks and did inspection the way an engineer does.
Sources said that damages caused by derailment are being estimated by the railway could go upto over Rs 50 to 70 crore. In 2022, more than half a dozen derailments and consequential accidents had taken place on the railway. One of them was the accident of the Bikaner Guwahati express in which many persons died in West Bengal.