Hyderabad: The railways on Sunday almost cleared the air on the Odisha train accident, indicating a possible "sabotage" and tampering of the electronic interlocking system behind the triple train accident that claimed at least 288 lives in Odisha.
Earlier, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the "root cause" of the accident and the "criminals" responsible for it have been identified. "It happened due to a change made in the electronic interlocking and point machine," he told reporters at the site of the accident in Balasore district. A senior railway official who did not want to be identified said this kind of tinkering with the "logic" of the AI-based electronic interlocking system can only be "intentional" and ruled out any malfunction in the system. The minister also said that the Commissioner of Railway Safety has completed an investigation and the report is awaited.
"It could be a case of tampering or sabotage from within or from outside. We have not ruled anything out," he said. Here in Delhi, top railway officials explained how the point machine and the interlocking system function. They said the system is "error proof" and "fail safe" but did not rule out the possibility of outside intervention.
The Railways attempt is believed to steer clear of the confusion over the exact cause of the Odisha train tragedy, no clear picture is emerging as of now with the Railway minister's statement and the Railway board's take on the accident appearing incoherent.
Earlier on the day, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's cryptic comment triggered speculation over a conspiracy theory. He pointed towards the 'human hand' behind the train accident which opened a slugfest between the BJP and the Congress, which made serious allegations against the BJP-led Centre for its 'negligence'.
Vaisnaw has indicated that 'someone' made a change “to the point machine, the configuration of the track”, resulting in the collision. The Minister, however, did not specify the level of the human hand. From his statement, it's not clear whether the accident was the result of a “human error”, or it was a fallout of sabotage.
Earlier, the Railways issued a statement which seems far from convincing. Railway Board member Jaya Varma Sinha on Sunday blamed a "signalling issue" for the Odisha train mishap. Sinha, who is a member of Operation and Business Development, of the Railway Board, however, stressed that only one train - the Coromandel Express met with the accident, contrary to reports that Bengaluru-Howrah Express and a goods train are involved in the mishap.
Under fire from the Opposition Congress, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said 'change in electronic interlocking' led to the mishap, which occurred near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar, on Friday evening. Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil and AICC's publicity and media department head Pawan Khera alleged that the Odisha rail tragedy was a "man-made devastation caused by "utter negligence, serious lapses in the system, incompetence, and a narcissistic sense of know-it-all attitude of the Modi government".
They alleged that Vaishnaw's "over the top publicity, theatrics and PR gimmicks overshadowed the serious deficiencies, criminal negligence and complete disregard for safety and security of Indian Railways". "PM Modi, himself is responsible for a green-flagging spree of Vande Bharat Express trains. He himself is responsible for creating this 'all is well' facade in the Indian Railways, even as crucial, sensitive, and critical infrastructure of the Indian Railway languishes in neglect," Gohil and Khera said in their statement.
