Weeks after Odisha tragedy, railways transfers 5 top officers

The railways on Thursday shunted out five top officials of the South Eastern Railway, including those responsible for operations, signalling and safety, weeks after a triple train accident killed more than 280 people in Balasore district in Odisha.

Though the railways called these "routine" transfers, the action was being seen as a fallout of the worst train tragedy in nearly three decades in the country.

In separate orders on Thursday, the Railway Board transferred Kharagpur Divisional Railway Manager Shujat Hashmi and the South Eastern Railway (SER) zone's Principal Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer P M Sikdar, Principal Chief Safety Officer Chandan Adhikary, Principal Chief Security Commissioner D B Kasar, and Principal Chief Commercial Manager Md Owais.

Earlier, nearly a fortnight after the train accident, the additional general manager of the zone, Atulya Sinha, was transferred, in what was now being seen as the first major action following the tragedy.

The railways had then called the transfer "routine". On Thursday too, railway spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said all these transfers were "routine".

According to the Railway Board order, Kharagpur DRM Hashmi was replaced by K R Chaudhari, chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board, Ajmer.

Sikdar has been transferred to North Central Railway as an officer on special duty, Adhikary has been sent to the Northeast Frontier Railway.

Principal Chief Security Commissioner Kasar, who is the security custodian of all railway assets and structures, including track and fixtures, rolling stock, signalling gears and railway buildings and establishments, has also been transferred.

Md Owais has been transferred to Northeast Frontier Railway and posted as Chief Administrative Officer.

Among the zone's top officials, General Manager Archana Joshi continues in her post. She is due to retire soon, an official said.

The crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train occurred around 7 PM on June 2 near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore. The section comes under Kharagpur division of the South Eastern Railway.

More than 280 people were killed and around 1,000 injured in the accident.

An interference with the interlocking system, which is an automated signalling system, is being seen as the major cause of the incident.