The Commissioner of Railway Safety has said the Kanchanjunga Express accident involving a goods train was "waiting to happen" due to lapses at multiple levels in managing train operations in automatic signal zones, and "inadequate counselling" of loco pilots and station masters.
In its probe report into the June 17 accident in West Bengal's Darjeeling district that left 10 persons dead, including the loco pilot of the goods train, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) also recommended implementation of the Automatic Train-protection system (KAVACH) on top priority.
The CRS said wrong paper authority or T/A 912 to cross defective signals was issued to the loco pilot of the goods train involved by authorities concerned. Further, the paper authority didn't mention the speed that the goods train driver was supposed to follow while crossing the defective signal.
Considering various lapses on part of the rail administration, the CRS said, "Due to improper authority and that too without adequate information, such an incident was an "accident-in-waiting".
The CRS, in its probe, found that besides the Kanchanjunga Express and the goods train, five other trains entered the section from when the signals turned defective until the accident happened on that day.
"In spite of issuing the same authority, different speed pattern was followed by loco pilots," it said. The CRS noted that only the Kanchanjunga Express followed the norm of moving at a maximum speed of 15 kmph and stopping for one minute at each defective signal while the rest of the six trains, including the goods train involved in the accident, didn't follow this norm.
This shows that "action to be taken when T/A 912 is issued to them is not clear. Some of the loco pilots have followed the 15 kmph rule while most of the loco pilots did not follow this rule.
"The absence of proper authority and that too without adequate information created misinterpretation and misunderstanding about the speed to be followed." PTI had first reported that the T/A 912 didn't mention speed restriction which the CRS has also flagged in its report as a major reason for the accident.