No end to blood spill on deathtrap Yamuna expressway

LUCKNOW: The Janrath bus that crashed into a divider on the Yamuna expressway and plunged into a drain early Monday was fitted with a speed-limiting device (SLD) that allows maximum acceleration of 80 kmph. But if a 60-tonne bus picks up maximum speed in a five-minute span, it could spin out of control.
Senior UPSRTC officials who are probing the accident say this is what could have happened as the expressway parapet had tyre marks.
“The bus first jumped onto the parapet, hit an iron rod below and then plunged into the gorge,” said a senior official.
The driver, Kripashankar Chaudhary, was not familiar with the route and finally came on track after passengers pointed out that he was on wrong course, said sources.
He was engaged for the trip to accommodate a huge rush of examinees who came to Lucknow earlier in the day, said senior UPSRTC officials.
The accident site is the intersection point of the Yamuna and Agra expressways. No CCTV cameras are in place and it’s difficult to track the bus’ trajectory before the crash, said an official.
Principal secretary, transport, Aradhana Shukla, said, “The driver had come for night duty and was scheduled to drive a bus to Ghazipur, but there were not enough passengers on the route. So, he was told to go to Delhi. This is a routine reshuffle.”
The driver, who also died in the accident, had joined UPSRTC in 2005. He was transferred to Awadh depot (Lucknow region) two years ago. Since January, he had driven buses for over 23,000 km. Also, he resumed duty after three-day rest, said sources. “His eyesight was good and he had no health issues. We are investigating if he had consumed alcohol,” said an UPSRTC official.
Based on survivors’ account, the driver dozed off before the tragedy. “The accident site is hardly 5km ahead of the toll plaza and it was just a 5-minute drive from the plaza. How the driver could have suddenly dozed off is tough to imagine,” said the official.
The accident’s impact can be gauged from the fact that the two front wheels came off on the expressway and the chassis and body fell into the gorge.The bus was comparatively new as it was inducted into the fleet in 2017. It was thoroughly checked and maintained before the journey.
The driver had no history of accidents and operated the same bus on several occasions.