CHENNAI: An official inquiry into the Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express accident has indicated sabotage, confirming that nuts and bolts were removed from the track, causing the train to veer off the main track on to the loop line and ram into a stationary goods train at Kavaraipettai railway station on Oct 11. Twelve coaches were derailed and 20 people injured in the accident.
On Thursday, 15 railway personnel, including the trackman, loco pilot of the train and Kavaraipettai station master appeared before the Commissioner for Rail Safety A M Chowdhary.They ruled out technical fault and confirmed that the nuts and bolts on the track were unfastened. However, the report was kept confidential.
GRP assistant commissioner Karnan told TOI that the trackman had confirmed that six bolts and nuts were removed. Karnan told the police that it would take at least 30 minutes for an experienced person to do this; with a hand-held power gadget, it would take 15 to 20 minutes. “The trackman was on duty from 7am to 5 pm on Oct 11, and he found no suspicious activity on the tracks during that time. After that, there was no other person assigned to check the tracks,” he added.
The sabotage is believed to have been carried out just before an EMU train passed through at 8.26pm. With the nuts and bolts removed, the track loosened further with the passage of the EMU train. As a result, the Bagmati Express, which arrived 12 minutes later, moved to the loop line – a track that branches out from the main route and merges with it again after a short distance.
“The loco pilot of Bagmati Express confirmed that he saw the green signal. However, he was clueless about how the train moved to the loop line. Kavaraipettai station master Muni Prasad Babu also said he signalled green for the express train to pass through the main line,” said an investigating officer.
GRP officers said that a similar sabotage attempt was foiled at Ponneri Railway station on July 17 by a trackman during routine inspection.