The derailed Shaktipunj Express in Sonbhadra on Thursday. (PTI Photo)
The preliminary probe report on the Utkal Express derailment has not only indicted the engineer who cut the tracks without getting authorisation to block traffic and failed to impose speed restrictions for the train, it has also held the assistant station master and section controller responsible for the accident that killed 20 people and injured more than 90.
The report of Commissioner of Railway Safety S K Pathak, accessed by The Indian Express, is unprecedented in that it places part of the blame directly on the section controller of trains for denying a 15-20-minute block of traffic, and the assistant station master of Khatauli for not securing the tracks despite knowing that it was unsafe. These two officials were equally responsible in the chain of events that led to the derailment, according to the report.
The report categorised the cause of the accident as “failure of railway staff”.
The probe found that as early as 9.22 am on August 19, engineers were aware that the glued joint of the track — a signal separation apparatus — was broken and rails needed to be cut to fix it. The engineering staff in-charge, after being briefed, told the permanent way inspector of Khatauli to “do whatever he wants to do”.
As per the probe, however, the urgency for a block of 15-20 minutes to place a new glued joint gained traction only after 4.56 pm, when a local train passed the affected part of the track safely and Utkal Express was to arrive half an hour later. The rail was already partially cut and held together with some temporary arrangement. Speed restrictions were not imposed even then, the probe noted.
Around 5.04 pm onwards, with the Utkal Express about 40 minutes away, at least five officials at local and divisional levels in engineering and operations departments started exchanging messages about the request for an urgent “15-minute block” before the train arrived.
The probe found the section controller guilty for not being “sensitive towards the necessity ”.
