Safety drive ordered on tracks across country after Ahmedabad-Puri Express rolled down sans engine in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: A day after coaches of Ahmedabad-Puri Express rolled down without engine in Odisha, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani on Sunday ordered a joint safety drive by operating, electrical and carriage and wagon departments on all tracks across the country.

Lohani has instructed that a month long drive be launched regarding shunting at stations during which the shunting staff and loco pilots/shunters can be intensively monitored and counselled.

While the Chief Safety Officers have been asked to oversee the drive, General Managers would submit reports about their observations, actions taken and suggestions for improvement.

On Saturday night, 22 coaches of Ahmedabad-Puri Express rolled down from Titlagarh in Balangir district to Kesinga in Kalahandi covering a distance of about 13 km without engine.

The incident occurred due to non-application of skid brakes at Titlagarh railway station where the engine is detached and a new diesel engine attached for reversal. The coaches continued to move as the gradient towards Kesigna section from Titlagarh is down.

However, the speed of the coaches slowed down at the up and railway staff put blocks to bring those to stationary. Later, attached with an engine the train that left Kesinga at 12.35 am reached Puri at 1.30 pm.

While ECoR General Manager Umesh Singh called for immediate corrective action and stringent exemplary action in this case, Chief Safety Officer SS Mishra has suggested an immediate special safety drive at all stations under East Coast Railway division where engine reversal of Mail/Express trains take place and at terminals, where trains terminate.

The stations where such drive would be conducted include Talcher, Bhadrak, Angul, Paradip, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Sambalpur, Bramhapur, Palasa and Khurda Road.

Meanwhile, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has suspended seven employees, including two engine drivers, three carriage and wagon repairing staff and two operating department staff in this connection.

These employees are loco pilot S Venkat Rao and assistant loco pilot Sushant Singh from Raipur, carriage and wagon department staff G S Panda, Lakha Kaspeta and P Bagh and token porters Kanta Kharavel and Dharmendra Nihal.

Sambalpur DRM Jaideep Gupta has arrived at Titlagarh to take stock of the situation. A probe panel comprising divisional heads of Operating, Safety and Mechanical departments is on the job to find out reasons behind the incident which could have resulted in a major mishap. A preliminary report is expected by evening.