HYDERABAD: Though an inquiry is pending, the officials seem to have come to the conclusion that the MMTS-Hundry Express head-on collision was on account of human error. Even the Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said that signal was given for the Hundry Express and not for the MMTS, making it clear that it was because of the negligence of the MMTS driver that the accident occurred.
The only saving grace was that the MMTS train did not have many passengers and at the time of the collision, both the trains were moving at slow speeds.Yet, the impact sent shock through the train formation, toppling the coaches to parallel railway lines, and the coaches lay on the adjacent railway lines at grotesque angles. Imran, who arrived at the station to receive his brother who was on the Hundry Express said: “At about 10.30 am, the passengers felt a jolt and the train came to a halt. I could see passengers getting down hurriedly from the MMTS and running to safety.”
The officials heaved a sigh of relief that there were no casualties in the mishap, except injuries to 16 passengers and to the co-pilot and pilot.The officials believe that the MMTS train driver had overshot the red signal and hit the inter-city though signal malfunction cannot be ruled out yet.
The primary investigation, showed that the loco-pilot of the MMTS had ignored the red signal, even as the Hundry Express was cleared to enter Kacheguda station’s platform no 4. “This cannot be a signalling error as automatic signalling is a foolproof system. The Hundry Express was scheduled to change track to another track to take it to platform no 4 and was moving at minimum speed.
However, the loco pilot of the MMTS began travelling towards Falaknuma on platform no 1, while the Hundry Express had almost halted in the exact opposite direction to change tracks,” explained a railway official. South Central Railway ‘s (SCR) signalling system had been automated to avoid any form of signalling error through manual transmission. The SCR has ever since added multiple hi-tech procedures such as the introduction of the Common Mini Line Box (CMLB) system.
Train services to be disrupted for two days
As a result of the train accident at Kacheguda station, multiple train services plying from SCR will be affected for the next two days. Close to 12 MMTS trains, 16 passenger and three express trains have been completely cancelled, along with partial cancellation of 38 train services, diversion of seven express trains and rescheduling of six express trains.
Passengers at Kacheguda station were spotted enquiring for rescheduled train timings, as confusion prevailed after the news of the accident spread. The trains cancelled, 57456 Mahbubnagar to Kacheguda, 57435 Kacheguda to Kurnool city, 57448 Mahbubnagar to Mirzapalli, 77632 Falaknuma to Umdanagar, 77642 Umdanagar to Falaknuma, 77633 Falaknuma to Umdanagar, 77643 Umdanagar to Falaknuma, 77645 Umdanagar to Secunderabad, 17024 Kurnool City-Secunderabad, 57473 Kacheguda -Bodhan, 77671 Kacheguda-Mahbubnagar, 77672 Mahbubnagar-Kacheguda, 57486 Mirzapalli-Kacheguda