Drivers Watching Cricket On Phone Resulted In Andhra Train Accident: Railway Minister (image:facebook.com/ashwinivaishnawbjp)
According to the Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the two drivers of Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger were watching cricket on phone and it led to the train collision. On Saturday, while speaking about new safety measures for the railways in New Delhi, Minister referred the Andhra Pradesh train accident.
He stated that the driver and assistant driver of a passenger train were immersed in watching a cricket match on their phones when the train rear-ended another passenger train in Andhra Pradesh”s Vizianagaram district. The fatal collision which caused the loss of 14 lives occurred in October last year.
Citing the incident, the Railway Minister added: “Now we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction and make sure that the pilots and the assistant pilots are fully focused on running the train,” PTI reports.
The minister added that the railways” will continue to give to focus on safety and “try to find out the root cause of every incident and we come up with a solution so that it is not repeated.”
The Rayagada Passenger train collided with the Visakhapatnam Palasa train from behind at 7 pm on October 29, 2023. The crash took place on the Howrah-Chennai line in Vizianagaram”s Kantakapalli. More than 50 passengers were injured as well.
Though official inquiry report by the Commissioners of Railway Safety (CRS) on the incident is pending, the preliminary investigation revealed that the driver and assistant driver of the Rayagada Passenger train were at guilt for ignoring two defective auto signals, and violating safety regulations. Both, the loco pilot and co-pilot, lost their lives in the collision.
Railway sources has confirmed that the incident took place due to human error and the loco pilot didn’t notice the signal.
The Vizianagaram train accident, thus, gave as a reality check to the Indian Railways on the necessity of attentiveness and adherence to safety protocols while operating trains.
