HYDERABAD: Even as railways officials maintain that human error of the loco pilot Chandrashekhar led to the head-on collision of an MMTS train with Hundry intercity Express on Monday, several questions arose as to what exactly led to the collision.
How can one completely rule out malfunctioning of signal system for the MMTS as any system is fallible, however sophisticated it might be? Even if it malfunctioned, the pilot could have drastically reduced speed after seeing another train approaching, but he apparently did not do so. The railways said that the loco pilot was paralysed with fear when he saw another train coming towards him, and his mind went blank.
Chandrashekhar’s colleagues said his service record is spotless. Like every other loco pilot, he had undergone the breath analyser test on the morning of the accident, and no traces of alcohol were found, as confirmed by SCR officials. According to a railway official, “He had started working as an assistant loco pilot in 2011, and completed all his aptitude, vision and psychological tests. He was even promoted recently to his current position of loco pilot.”
His close friend and church-mate, Surya Prakash, said, “We have been going to the same church for eight years. He is an incredibly happy and sound man with no domestic or psychological problems. He was blessed with a baby boy just a month back.” With no previous psychological issues, perfect aptitude test scores and clean professional track record, one can only wonder if SCR’s automated signalling system could have faltered for a few seconds.
However, the spokesperson of SCR said, “From preliminary investigation, it has been revealed that the loco pilot had disregarded the red signal for platform no 1 and moved towards Faluknama as the Hundry Express coming from the opposite direction towards Kacheguda, was scheduled to change tracks from platform no 1 to platform no 4.”
However, CCTV of the incident shows the MMTS sped forward even though the intercity express train was in sight.
Case registered against loco pilot
Hyderabad: A case has been registered against L Chandrashekhar, loco pilot of the MMTS train, under Sections 337, 338 and 308 with the Kacheguda railway police by the Railway Superintendent. The pilot’s statement will be taken after his medical condition improves. Until then, the railway police are investigating the incident by collecting details of the signalling system at the station and footage available from the CCTV cameras at Kacheguda station