Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday, October 30 urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to establish a high-level committee to thoroughly investigate why the braking system and alert system failed leading to the train mishap at Vizianagaram on Sunday, in which 13 people lost their lives.
Jagan conducted an aerial survey of the train accident site at Kantakapalle in Vizianagaram district on Monday. He also visited injured passengers who are being treated at the government hospital in Vizianagaram. Following his visit, he raised three questions regarding the failure of braking, signalling, and communication systems. He added that an investigation could help prevent such accidents from occurring in the future.
The Chief Minister extended his condolences to the families of the deceased and said that the state government would provide the best possible assistance to the victims.
Jagan declared an ex gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh to each of the deceased’s relatives and Rs 2 lakh to each of the injured from the state. A compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each of the deceased’s family and Rs 50,000 to each of the injured from other states was also announced.
Two passenger trains, Visakhapatnam-Palasa and Visakhapatnam-Rayagada, were involved in the collision at Kantakapalle, close to the Vizianagaram railway station, resulting in the derailment of five coaches and 13 deaths. Railway Safety officials initiated an investigation into the incident, focusing on the signalling system and potential human errors.
Meanwhile, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Rail Minister and Congress leader, said that the country has witnessed a recurrence of train accidents and said that it was an indication that the government had failed to ensure rail safety. He alleged that there could be underutilisation of anti-collision devices meant to avert train accidents. “Two rail collisions occurred in India in just five months, one in Andhra Pradesh and one in Balasore, despite the government and railways ministry’s nationwide promotion that they are implementing creative and innovative methods to avoid rail collision.”