‘Loco pilots were not watching cricket at time of crash’
The investigation into last year’s tragic collision of two passenger trains in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, which left 17 passengers dead and 34 injured, has not revealed any evidence to prove that the locomotive pilots of one of the trains were watching cricket at the time of the accident.
In March this year, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw claimed that “both the loco pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the cricket match which was going on”.
According to sources in the East Coast Railway, the analysis of data usage on mobile phones used by Loco Pilot S.M.S Rao and Assistant Loco Pilot S. Chiranjeevi — both of whom died in the accident — gave no indication that they were watching cricket. The call details and data usage were analysed by the Senior Divisional Signal and Telecommunications Engineer and the Divisional Safety O cer of the Waltair Division. The Commissioner of Railway Safety Pranjeev
Saxena, who conducted a detailed inquiry into the accident, has also not made any mention about the loco pilots watching cricket in his report.
Apart from the two loco pilots, the train manager or guard of the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger also died when their train collided with the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger on October 29, 2023. The CRS inquiry concluded that an “error in train working” caused the accident and held the train crew and operating sta responsible for the crash, among others.
On March 3, however, Mr. Vaishnaw told a news agency in New Delhi that “both the loco pilot and copilot were distracted by the cricket match”.