The Railways seem unable to explain the sudden spurt in collision of trains that have taken a toll of over 273 lives during the past 17 months, even as the collision on Monday in Madhya Pradesh is posing several questions.
According to Railway officials the prima facie cause of the collision was the goods train pilot overshooting the home signal and entering the loop line of Badarwas station, where the Indore-Gwalior Intercity Express was parked. The driver and assistant drivers of both the trains are safe, but the goods train team had jumped off prior to the accident and had gone missing for a while. Sources said that it took a good deal of persuasion to force them to report at the site and have their statements recorded. Even the station master of Badarwas had fled soon after the accident, but returned later. His room at the station was searched.
The goods train was running at a speed of over 40 kmph on the single line section which entertains seven pairs of passenger trains each day.
Commissioner of Railway Safety, Central Circle, Mumbai, Chetan Bakshi, will be enquiring into the circumstances that led to the accident. It is peculiar because it involved a goods train straying into the platform line.
