India investigates rail disaster, train service resumes

Railway officials and witnesses gathered to submit evidence to a two-day inquiry, led by a local rail safety commissioner

BALASORE: Trains are once again running at the site of Friday’s deadly rail crash near Balasore in the state of Odisha in India, officials said on Monday.

The incident was India’s most devastating train accident in decades and led to the loss of nearly 300 lives while leaving hundreds injured.

Authorities launched an official investigation into the incident on Monday.

An issue with the electronic signalling system led a train to wrongly change tracks, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

“Who has done it and what is the reason will come out of an investigation,” he said in an interview with New Delhi Television network.

Two-day inquiry

Railway officials and witnesses gathered to submit evidence to a two-day inquiry, led by a local rail safety commissioner in Kharagpur in the state of West Bengal, 120 km from the crash site.

“Several officials and witnesses have joined the inquiry. The inquiry is underway,” a senior railway official told Reuters news agency, as documents were checked and submitted for examination.

But India’s Railway Board, the top executive body, has recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation take over the investigation.

Services resume after crash

There are concerns that the number of fatalities may increase as medical facilities struggle to cope with the influx of patients, many of whom are in critical condition.

Vaishnaw told reporters, “We have to move towards normalisation... Our responsibility is not over yet.”

Green netting has been put up on both sides of the tracks, concealing the wreckage of the crushed carriages, which had been pushed down the embankment.

It remains unclear whether all the tracks have been completely repaired, as trains on Monday were limited to using only one side of the lines.—