New Delhi: In the wake of the Odisha triple-train crash, the railways’ has advised all its divisions to hold sessions for train managers and controllers regarding their duties to ensure smooth and safe train movement.
The June 2 accident involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train killed 288 people and injured over 1,000.
The CBI was roped in by the Ministry of Railways after a preliminary inquiry flagged possible tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, and officials suspected “sabotage” behind the accident.
In the advisory, addressed to principal chief operations managers, the Railway Board said that “a system of periodic counselling of train managers and section controllers regarding their duties and responsibilities is required to ensure smooth and safe movement of trains of Indian Railways”.
“Such a system is already in place in a few zones and for all SM (station masters)/pointsman in all zones,” it said.
Asking the officials to treat the advisory as “most urgent”, the railways suggested that some senior and knowledgeable train managers and section controllers should be assigned the responsibility to counsel others.
The purpose of this exercise is to enhance “alertness and proper compliance in other duties during normal and abnormal situations,” the advisory said.
It said that “a regular programme for counselling of all train running staff on specific safety and movement issues is required to be prepared and executed” and asked the officials to give their feedback at the earliest.
On the advisory, a safety officer from one of the railways’ divisions said, “This should have been in practice in all the divisions but better late than never.”
“I believe that the regular counselling and training will help ensure safety,” the officer said.
PTI