Wait for CBI to complete probe: railway minister on reason for Odisha accident

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said people should wait for the CBIs primary investigation to be complete to know the reason for the triple train accident in Odishas Balasore that left 292 people dead.Stating that the truth needs to come out, he asked newspersons here not to go by rumours.This is a very very sensitive matter.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said people should wait for the CBI’s primary investigation to be complete to know the reason for the triple train accident in Odisha’s Balasore that left 292 people dead.

Stating that the truth needs to come out, he asked newspersons here not to “go by rumours”.

“This is a very very sensitive matter. We should know the actual fact. We should know the technical root cause. Let the CBI's primary investigation be completed. After this, we will decide about future steps,” Vaishnaw said.

The CBI was asked to probe into the accident, which is one of the worst crashes in the history of Indian Railways.

Vaishnaw said the Commissioner of Railway Safety is also conducting a parallel probe into the technical aspects.

The accident occurred when Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train, derailing most of its coaches at 7 pm on June 2. A few of those toppled over the last few coaches of the Bengaluru-Howrah Express which was passing by at the same time.

On allegations by opposition including the Trinamool Congress whether the much-vaunted indigenously developed Kavach train protection system did not work during the Balasore tragedy, the minister said, ''This accident has nothing to do with Kavach.'' ''We should never politicise the issue which involves railways'' and public safety, he said.

''Those who are asking questions about Kavach, my question is for them - where were you when automatic train protection was implemented in the entire world? In India it was developed after 2014 when the Narendra Modi government came to power,'' he said.

All aspects - manufacturing, installation, design – are unique in Kavach and the technology needs to be developed, the minister said.

“The design is different in urban areas and hill areas. It is not very simple,'' Vaishnaw said.

He asserted that lots of measures were taken for automatic train protection in the country for the first time after 2014.

The capacity of the railway system has to increase manifold as the country has a population of 140 crore, Vaishnaw said.