Utkal Express derailment: Probe team to look into ‘viral’ audio clip

In the clip, a railway employee says one of the reasons for the tragedy was “poor patrolling” on the track where maintenance work was under way.

August 20, 2017 09:53 pm | Updated 09:54 pm IST - New Delhi

Relief operations under way at the site where the Utkal Express train derailed, at Khatauli near Muzaffarnagar on August 20, 2017.

Relief operations under way at the site where the Utkal Express train derailed, at Khatauli near Muzaffarnagar on August 20, 2017.

An 15-minute audio clip of what is said to be a conversation between a railway employee and a mediaperson on alleged “negligence” that caused the train accident in Khatauli, has gone viral on social media.

Mohammed Jamshed, Member, Traffic, Railways, said the inquiry team would look into the clip.

In the clip, the employee, apparently posted at a crossing near the accident site, says one of the reasons for the tragedy was “poor patrolling” on the track where maintenance work was under way.

“Welding work was under way at a section of the railway track ... but the workers did not fix the block of the track and left it loose. Gates near the crossing were closed. A piece [of the track] was not fixed and when the Utkal Express arrived, 14 of its coaches got derailed,” he is heard saying.

He talks of how workers had left equipment between the tracks after work.

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