The probe found that the MEMU train with eight coaches had left platform number 2 of the Gevra station at 3:48 pm for the Bilaspur station on the “UP” line. The train then overshot the red signal and collided with the stationary goods train at the next red signal at 3:50 pm.
Chhattisgarh train collision (Photo: ANI)
A passenger train had collided with a stationary freight train in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur on Tuesday. Eleven people were killed, including the loco pilot, and many others were injured in the accident.
Now, a preliminary investigation into the accident has found that the passenger train’s crew had failed to control the train at a red signal.
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As per the initial probe conducted by a panel of five railway experts, the local MEMU (mainline electric multiple unit) passenger train rammed into the stationary goods train at 3:50 pm in Bilaspur.
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A news agency report said, referring to the initial findings that the crew of the MEMU Local (train no 68733) did not control the train at danger signal no AJ-5. As a result, the train rammed into the rear brake van (last coach) of train no N/MDIT (goods train).
11 dead, several injured as passenger train collides with goods train in Chhattisgarh
The report stated that there was a failure on the part of the crew of the passenger train for not having controlled the train at the right time and the right position before the danger signal. In the process, they committed an SPAD (Signal Passed at Danger) violation, which essentially means overshooting a red signal.
The probe found that the MEMU train with eight coaches had left platform number 2 of the Gevra station at 3:48 pm for the Bilaspur station on the “UP” line. The train then overshot the red signal and collided with the stationary goods train at the next red signal at 3:50 pm.
The collision’s impact was such that the brake van of the goods train capsized completely, and the passenger train’s locomotive climbed onto the goods train.
Rescue teams found the loco pilot and the assistant loco pilot in a state of injury, but the loco pilot died subsequently. The assistant loco pilot, on the other hand, remains admitted at a hospital with other injured passengers.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety will now conduct a detailed probe into the accident.
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