Report faults safety lapses for A.P. accident
“This was the penultimate action leading to the accident. Overwriting in the Private Number book on the number, claimed failure of the Train Manager to hear the conversation between the Loco Pilot and Station Master of Kantakapalle (over walkie talkie) and “stolen” Train Manager journal indicate that assurance of some sort was given to the Loco Pilot/Assistant Loco Pilot of this train to proceed at sectional speed,” Mr. Saxena wrote in the 60-page investigation report accessed by The Hindu.
The probe also revealed that the coaches of the two passenger trains lacked certain safety features that could have minimised the loss of lives and grievous injuries of passengers. The anti-telescopic features of the coaches, designed by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), failed to work in both trains.
The ICF coaches with screw coupling were designed with weak structural elements in the toilet portion located at the ends of the coach body. These elements were meant to be crushed and absorb kinetic energy through the deformation or collapse of the plastic parts in case of collisions if the impact speed exceeded 30 kmph, thus protecting the passenger sections of the coaches from the impact at relatively lower speeds.
Modied coaches
However, over a period of time, ICF had modied the design to address sagging and corrosion issues. It strengthened certain structural elements, including those elements originally meant to collapse and absorb kinetic energy by plastic deformation or breakage. Analysing the modications made to the structural elements in comparison to the original specications, Mr. Saxena said that all the coaches involved in the accident were modied.
Mr. Saxena suggested that at least the last two coaches of every passenger-carrying train should have such crash-worthy and injury-free features. The layout of Seating-cum-Luggage Rake (SLR) coaches should be modied to shift the luggage portion to the two ends of the coach so that the collapsible portion is in the luggage area only.
The investigating ocer also noted that a dead locomotive had been attached next to the main locomotive in one of the trains. This caused higher casualties in the train ahead, as the locomotives were stier and heavier than the coaches, leading to much higher kinetic energy of the rear train.