As the death toll in Tuesday's tragic accident at Sainthia touched 64 with an injured victim succumbing at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, the railways’ preliminary investigations seemed to indicate that responsibility for the accident lay in the deceased driver and assistant of the Uttar Bangal Express, with the signalling department at Sainthia claiming there was no fault on its part.
The state government, meanwhile, ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe. A team of sleuths visited the site and also went to the Suri district hospital where most of the injured are admitted. The 12-member CID team also visited the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.
The director general of police, Bhupinder Singh, said as this is a very serious case in nature and as a number of victims and injured are from other states like Bihar and Jharkhand, the CID has been asked to conduct the investigation.
At Sainthia, the transcripts retrieved from the data logger installed at the Sainthia (West) cabin has suggested that there was no fault in the signaling procedure when the Down Uttar Banga Express arrived at the outer vicinity of the junction station.
It also indicated that the ‘intruder’ train crossed the cabin point at 70kph speed despite the red signal about 500 metres ahead of the platform No 4 which was then occupied by Down Vananchal Express.
The data logger preserves 24 hours' signaling data.
The transcript version of the data logger signed by the Sainthia station manager, S Mukherjee, and the cabin schedule in-charge stated: “All keys were checked and all signal power were open. The power system was also correct.”
Though the data logger doesn’t hint at any fault from his end, the divisional railway authorities had suspended Motor Let, the cabin man of the west cabin Tuesday evening itself assuming that his lapses might have caused the fatal run of the Uttar Banga Express.
The station manager of Sainthia junction had made a last ditch attempt to prevent the disaster by giving wireless caution to the Uttar Banga Express driver.
Though the wireless device was of single band type and was capable of three way conversations between the cabin man, the station manager and the driver, the device in the hands of Madhab Chandra Dey, the driver remained mute. The GM, ER, Mr Vijay Narayan Tripathy told The Statesman on Tuesday: “We are looking into why the driver didn’t respond to the wireless. We are also trying to find out what type of wireless set he was provided.” The railway administration doesn’t rule out the mismatch of frequency of the wireless communication sets.
The signal overshoot and the silent wireless set has also forced the railway officials to consider whether the drivers of the Uttar Banga Express were drugged.
A passenger of Vananchal Express, Danish Wasi has registered a complaint of negligence against the railway seeking a detailed investigation.
Train services returned to normal on the Bolpur-Rampurhat section as rescue workers were seen cleaning up the splintered scraps of the two trains lying on the track. Severed limbs of victims were found from the site Tuesday.
The Birbhum police, meanwhile interrogated a section of porters at Sainthia station to check whether the Down Vananchal Express was detained at the platform due to disturbances caused by the GRP. Mr Farhat Abbas, ASP, Birbhum interrogated a section of local porters this afternoon.
Were drivers drugged, ask authorities
Railway authorities are looking at the possibility that the drivers of the ill-fated Uttar Banga Express had taken tea mixed with sedatives at Gadadharpur halt--barely 7.19 km from Sainthia--where the train had stopped for a while. The post mortem report of the drivers prepared at the Suri hospital however failed to unearth any such indications.
Viscera samples have been sent to Hyderabad for forensic tests. “An inquiry is on and once it's completed I will inform the Parliament and the country of the findings,” railway minister Mamata Banerjee said.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose meanwhile, charged the Congress with abdicating its responsibilities as a national party by rallying behind its regional ally, the Trinamul chief and railway minister, even after yesterday's “colossal tragedy on the railway tracks”.
