The cause and people responsible for the country’s deadliest train catastrophe in decades have been discovered, according to India’s Railway Minister, who pointed to an electronic signal system without providing any specifics.
“We have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it,” India’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told news agency ANI, but said it was “not appropriate” to give details before a final investigation report.
The dead toll after Friday’s collision near Balasore, in Odisha’s eastern state, was anticipated to exceed 288.
According to Ashwini, the disaster was caused by a “change that occurred during electronic interlocking,” a technical phrase referring to a complicated signal system designed to prevent trains from colliding by coordinating their movement on the rails.
“Whoever did it, and how it happened, will be found out after proper investigation,” he added
The entire sequence of events was unclear, although railway officials were quoted as claiming that a signaling fault had forced the Coromandal Express traveling south from Kolkata to Chennai onto a side track.
It collided with a freight train, and the wreckage derailed an express train traveling north from India’s IT hub Bengaluru to Kolkata, which was also travelling through the area.
Pradeep Jena, the chief secretary of Odisha state, revealed that over 900 persons had been hospitalized.
