Changes in 'electronic Interlocking' caused the train accident in Odisha

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav informs

(‘Electronic Interlocking’ refers to ‘electronic’ switching between tracks to allow a train to move from one track to another)

Electronic interlocking system (Credit : AsiaNet Newsable)

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) – The reason behind 2nd June train accident at Balasore in Odisha has been identified. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told the news agency ‘ANI’ that the investigation into the accident has been completed and the root cause of the accident and the people responsible are also identified. The accident was caused by changes in the ‘electronic interlocking’.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav further said that the railway tracks will be restored by the evening of 4th June. The dead bodies have been removed from all the accident-stricken coaches. There is no train collision avoidance system called ‘Kavach’ on this route but this accident has nothing to do with it.

(Credit : ANI News)

A change in ‘electronic interlocking’ led to Coromandel Express being diverted to a track on which goods train was stationary. A green signal was also given for it. Due to this, the express train hit the goods train, which caused the accident. The train driver moves the train on the tracks entirely through this ‘electronic interlocking’. As the tracks are changed automatically, the train also moves from one track to another. Due to a change in this ‘interlocking’, two trains came on the same track and accident occurred.