4 Railway staffs suspended for collision issue - reg

The Railways has suspended four of its staff in connection with the collision of a goods train with the Indore-Gwalior Intercity Express at the Badarwas Station in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district on Monday. The accident claimed 23 lives. Assistant Station Master of Badarwas Rajendra Tarare, Pointsman Mahendra Kumar, the goods train's loco pilot, Mukesh Bhardwaj, and assistant loco pilot Mahesh Meena were placed under suspension for their prima facie failure in averting the collision. The goods train driver and his assistant, according to officials, failed to apply the brakes despite the “red” signal, while the fault of the pointsman was that he did not reverse the points of the track and diverted the incoming goods train onto the main line. The pointsman had more than 10 minutes to avert the accident given that the Intercity Express had arrived at 4.35 a.m. at the platform, and the goods train rammed it at 4.55 a.m. The Railways also felt that the pointsman should not have relied mainly on changing the aspect of the signal in the belief that the goods train driver would heed to the caution and apply the brakes, particularly when it was raining heavily, which reduced visibility. The station master was taken to task for his lack of communication with the pointsman and for not giving directions for the deft handling of the situation and averting the collision.

Source - The Hindu