Staff erred in changing relay: Spot report
Details of the first investigation report, done after a joint spot inspection by five officials (reported by DT Next a couple of days ago), disclosed that a boom replacement work was carried out at the level crossing near Bahanaga Bazaar Station recently.
A police official stands guard as train services resume on the ill-fated tracks of Balasore
CHENNAI: Wrong wiring and changes in the relay allegedly at the hands of a few careless Signal and Telecom staff of the Railway department or the contractor at the level crossing appear to have contributed to the deadly Balasore train accident which claimed 275 lives.
The first investigation by Railway officials regarding the accident revealed that the Signal and Telecom (S&T) staff erred in changing the relay, which resulted in the lack of synchronization between the track joint which was set for Up Loop Line and the relay in the Station Master’s panel which showed normal indication or green signal for the Up Main Line.
Details of the first investigation report, done after a joint spot inspection by five officials (reported by DT Next a couple of days ago), disclosed that a boom replacement work was carried out at the level crossing near Bahanaga Bazaar Station recently.
“The gate and point relay were in same location. By mistake, technical loop was kept wired to NWKR (Normal Point Indication Relay) instead of RWKR or Vital Proving Relay (VPR) due to wrong nomenclature,” a highly placed railway source said.
“It has been confirmed that while working on the electrically operated lifting barrier at the level crossing, the S&T staff or the contractor committed a mistake in wiring the circuits and changing the relay. Thus, while the circuit was set for Up Loop Line, the relay in the Station Master’s panel (NWKR) gave green signal to Up Main line,” the source said.
The interlock between the track joint and panel has been rendered ineffective due to wrong wiring, a former top SR official familiar with the technical know-how explained. When the freight train was occupying the Up Loop Line, Point 17A should have been RWKR (Reverse Point Indication Relay). Instead, it showed NWKR, a green signal to take Up Main Line, enabling the loco pilot to approach at a top speed of over 120 kmph, the officer added.
Understandably, among the 55 summoned on Sunday by the senior divisional safety officer of Kharagpur Division for inquiry of the Commissioner of Railway Safety, South Eastern circle on Monday, were Avinash Mohanty, signal maintainer of Bahanaga Bazar station, three helpers and one Rabindra Nath Sasmal, the wiring man of the contractor.