NEW DELHI: The Balasore train crash on Friday night is now considered one of the deadliest train accidents in India in recent times and has fallen under the consequential category of train accidents. The consequential category is given to train accidents that have serious repercussions in terms of either one or many or all of the following — loss of human life, human injury, loss of railway property, and interruption to rail traffic.
Friday’s accident in Balasore, Odisha is one of the deadliest consequential train crashes, involving two passenger trains and one freight train. It has also, once again, exposed railways’ standard safety procedures, automatic signalling and operating systems. As per an initial estimate, this consequential rail accident has not only claimed the lives of over hundreds of people but might have also caused a loss of more than Rs 450-Rs 500 crore that includes damage to coaches, railway track, diversion of trains and cancellation of tickets post the accident.
The railways has initiated a high-level probe into the accident, headed by Commissioner of Railway Safety AM Chowdhary, South Eastern Circle, which works under the civil aviation ministry. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report 2022 had stated that Indian Railways with its 17 zonal railways works as a single system consisting of 65,956 route kms of track on which more than 21,648 trains run carrying about 22.15 million passengers and hauling nearly 3.32 million tonnes of freight every day.“But consequential accidents question the safety and working procedures of India Railways,” the CAG report stated, adding that accidents occur due to acts of omission and commissions.
According to an official figure, 246 consequential train accidents were reported from across the railways during the last six years — from 2017-18 to 2022-23, in which, 163 consequential accidents were due to derailments. The number of total derailments reported in 2021-22 is not available. The CAG in its report has also mentioned that the maximum number of accidents were due to derailments, constituting around 75% of the total consequential accidents since 2017-18 to 2021-22.
As per sources in railways, the Balasor accident might also be a rare case where a train’s derailment led to an accident involving two other trains.“Right now, a high-level inquiry has been ordered by CSR, so saying anything on record is not allowed. But, it seems the train accident might have been caused due to overshooting signal at danger point and derailment,” said a senior technical grade official.
Bus carrying survivors collides with van in Bengal
A bus carrying Coromandel Express disaster survivors met with an accident at West Bengal’s Midnapore, around 102km from the crash site, on Saturday afternoon. The bus collided head-on with a pick-up van on NH-16. The passengers were given treatment at primary health centres.