Siliguri: The assistant driver of the goods train, who was declared dead along with the driver after the Kanchanjungha Express accident on Monday, has been found to be alive.
It has been learned that driver Anil Kumar died but assistant driver Manu Kumar is alive. He was first admitted to a railway hospital but later shifted to a private hospital for further treatment.
A viral video captured his first reaction after the accident where he asked, "Driver saab kaise hye (How is the driver)?" Although he was not informed about the death of the driver, fear was writ large on his face. However, ETV Bharat has not verified the authenticity of the video.
NF Railway's Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety Janak Kumar Garg has also joined in the investigation. Probe has been initiated since Tuesday morning.
At the time of the accident, 41 people from various departments involved in the railway work were interrogated and their statements were recorded.
Manu, who is the sole witness, can uncover the secrets behind the accident. But he is also now undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Siliguri.
According to former railway officials, several inconsistencies have been found in the Railway Board's version. On the one hand, the railway board declared Manu Kumar dead on the day of the accident. On the other hand, questions are being raised over allotting resting time for the driver and assistant driver of the goods train.
There is shortage of staff in railways for signalling so there is extra pressure on the workers. The driver and assistant driver are supposed to get one day off after two days of night duty. However, railway sources revealed that Manu had to work for three consecutive nights. Even though he got a night off, he was asked to join work the next day, i.e. Monday morning, Manu's colleague claimed.
A railway source said that Manu and deceased Anil Kumar had rested for more than 30 hours before they joined duty on Monday.
Besides, the automatic signalling was not working since the morning of the incident. As a result, the train was running after signing the memo. Through the memo, it was informed to see which signal is bad and which signal should be checked. Even the station master of Rangapani made a mistake in giving that memo.
Also, there should be a vigilance control device in the train, which did not work even on that train. There is a panel room at the station for monitoring the position and speed of the two trains, the role of which is still questionable. However, it is completely baseless to continue blaming the responsibility on the drivers before the investigation is completed, according to many.
However, it is clear from the investigation that there were multiple things which were out of order during the incident. Now it has been alleged that the railway authorities are putting the blame on the driver Anil Kumar and the assistant driver Manu Kumar as a cover up. It is believed that the root cause of the incident is being brushed under the carpet.
North Bengal Development Minister Udayan Guha said, "It is very easy for the railways to blame the deceased".
Ashish Biswas, secretary of NF Railway Labour Union and former train driver, said, "We should investigate what exactly happened here. But where the train was supposed to run at 15 km per hour due to bad signal, the impact and damage to the goods train shows that the speed was much higher. There may also be many other errors, which require investigation."
According to railway sources, automatic lock system or automatic signalling was not working for 3 hours from 5.50 am on June 17. The drivers of the Kanchenjunga Express and the freight car were running the train with the authority issued by the station master.
As per rules, if the automatic signalling system fails, trains are run by changing to Absolute Block System. But in this case it was not done Why was it not launched sooner? What was the railway signaling department doing? Why they could not fix the signal for three hours? These are the questions that need to be answered.
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