Kanchanjunga Express crash was avoidable, says probe report

NEW DELHI: The Kanchanjunga Express-freight train accident in Bengal in June was "avoidable" had officials of departments concerned followed rules and guidelines, the final report of Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) concluded. It held Rangapani station staff, chief loco inspector and loco inspector of New Jalpaiguri, and traffic inspector dealing with rules at Northeast frontier zonal headquarters primarily responsible for the accident that claimed 10 lives and left 43 injured.

The report said factors that led to the crash were a faulty authority letter that created an impression in the mind of the loco pilot to drive the freight train at allowed speed on the section when automatic signals were not functioning; not issuing caution order; & poor counselling of train running and station staff. "This was an avoidable accident," it said.

On June 17, the goods train rear-ended Kanchanjunga Express near Jalpaiguri. Soon after, top officials blamed goods train's loco pilot & assistant loco pilot for not following norms, but CRS probe found no fault on their part. The report has concluded that the accident happened due to "lapses at multiple levels in managing train operations under automatic signal failures". It said Rangpani station staff issued wrong "paper authority" to cross the section and failed to give the "caution order" to drive at stipulated speed.

Walkie-talkies, a critical safety equipment, were not provided to the loco pilot and train manager (guard) of the goods train. Moreover, the station master failed to take signature of the train manager on paper authority, it said. The report said inadequate counselling of loco pilots and station masters on train operations in automatic signalling territory created misinterpretation of rules, leading to the accident.