Elephant death row: ECoR says train driver followed forest dept’s caution order

BHUBANESWAR: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Sunday while issuing a statement on the death of an elephant in train accident near Jarapada station in Angul district on April 6 said it strictly followed the caution order issued by the forest department regarding movement of jumbos in that area on Thursday night.
The Railways apparently tried to pass the buck to the forest department in the statement. The ECoR stated that the Wildlife Control Cell manned by forest department at Sambalpur railway division had given a memo to the Divisional Control Office on restriction of train movement at 6.30pm on April 6. It had mentioned that train running should be restricted with a speed limit of 50 km per hour from the spot starting from 125 km to 131 km from both sides between Boinda and Jarapada stations from 6.30pm of April 6 to 6.30am of April 7.
After receiving this, the Railways had clearly communicated the instructions to the train driver (loco pilot) and the latter followed it. “However, the unfortunate incident occurred beyond the above-mentioned area, specifically after 131km, which is beyond the elephant passing zone, as per the memo of the forest department,” said the ECoR statement.
The official sources said the incident occurred at 9.21pm on Thursday while Sambalpur-Shalimar Mahima Gosain Express (20832) was approaching Jarapada railway station from Boinda in Sambalpur-Angul railway section, with all precautions taken by maintaining the above-mentioned speed limit, blowing horns, and following all caution orders.