Odisha Accident | Wrong Labelling of Location Box Wires Led to Mix-Up: CRS Report

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• Background
• What Has the CRS Report Found?
• About Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS)

Why in News?

• The investigation by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) into the train accident near Balasore in Odisha on June 2 has found that wrong labelling of wires inside the level-crossing location box remained undetected for years and ultimately led to a mix-up during maintenance work.

Background

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Image Caption: Odisha Train Accident

• On June 2, a triple-train accident at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore killed 292 people and injured over 1,000.
• First, the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express crashed into a goods train.
• Then, some of its coaches derailed and hit the last two coaches of the Bengaluru-Howrah train that was running on the adjacent tacks. Some coaches of this train also derailed.
• The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) was asked to start probing the incident. On June 2, a triple-train accident at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore killed 292 people and injured over 1,000.
• First, the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express crashed into a goods train.
• Then, some of its coaches derailed and hit the last two coaches of the Bengaluru-Howrah train that was running on the adjacent tacks. Some coaches of this train also derailed.
• The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) was asked to start probing the incident.

What Has the CRS Report Found?

• In its report, the CRS has flagged multi-level lapses that led to the accident.
• Main Reason Behind the Accident –
  • The investigation by the CRS has found that wrong labelling of wires inside the level-crossing location box remained undetected for years and ultimately led to a mix-up during maintenance work.
  • It has said that the tragedy could have been averted if past red flags were not ignored.
• The station master, who is part of the operations department, has also been named for failing to detect “abnormal behavior” of the signaling control system that could have prevented the tragedy.
  • The signaling staff at the site said that while carrying out replacement work of the ‘electric lifting barrier’ at the level crossing on the day of the accident, they were “misled” by “anomalies” like wrong lettering on the terminal, and the circuit that showed the position of the ‘point’ (the motorized part that guides a train from one track to another) had been shifted in the past.
• The location box, where these wires were connected, contained wrong lettering, which means they wrongly indicated the functions.
• The CRS probe found that as early as in 2015, the completion wiring diagram – to show technicians how the wiring is meant to be reconnected after maintenance work — was changed on paper and duly approved.
  • However, the change of labelling was not done physically.
• Again, in 2018, the position of the circuit that detects the status of the ‘point’ was shifted within the location box, but the change was not labelled accordingly – neither on the diagram, not at the cable terminal rack.
• The CRS has also found that about two weeks before the accident, the Kharagpur division had a similar incident at Bankra Nayabaz station, due to wrong wring and cable fault.
• “Had corrective measures been taken after this incident, to address the issue of wrong wiring, the accident at Bahanaga Bazar station would not have occurred,” the CRS has said.

About Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS)

• The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) is a statutory body. It is headed by the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety.
• As the name suggests, CRS deals with matters related to safety of rail travel and operations, as laid down in the Railways Act, 1989.
• Investigating serious train accidents is one of the key responsibilities of the CRS.
• The commission also makes recommendations to the government
• Headquarters – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
• It is, however, worth noting that the CRS does not report to the Ministry of Railways of the Railway Board.
• CRS is, in fact, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).
• The reason or principle behind this, put simply, is to keep the CRS insulated from the influence of the country’s railway establishment and prevent conflicts of interest.

Q1) Is Indian Railways a statutory body?

Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India’s national railway system.

Q2) What is Broad-gauge Railway Line?

A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) used by standard-gauge railways.

Source: Balasore Coromandel Express accident CRS report: Wrong labelling of location box wires led to mix-up