India’s railway minister has suggested a signal fault led to the Odisha rail disaster, with a “change in electronic interlocking” the likely cause. Ashwini Vaishnaw later said the cause and people responsible for the deadly three-train crash in eastern India had been identified but did not elaborate.
India’s Railway Board said there had been “some kind of signalling interference” rather than failure. A report into India’s worst rail accident this century is due later.
Meanwhile the death toll has been revised down to 275 after some bodies were counted twice, officials said.
Of the 1,175 injured people taken to hospital, 793 have been discharged. Some families are still searching for their loved ones.
In railway signalling the electronic interlocking system sets routes for each train in a set area, ensuring the safe movement of trains along the track.
The crash saw a passenger train collide with a stationary goods train and derail, after being wrongly directed onto a loop track by the side of the main line. Derailed carriages then struck the rear carriages of a second passenger train passing in the opposite direction.
Credit: bbc.com
