Balasore accident aftermath: Railways transfer top officials as punishment posting

Nearly a month after the Balasore triple train accident, several railway officials are facing the axe as they are being relocated to different locations as a punishment. According to sources, several railway officials have been transferred from Kharagpur Railway Division and South Eastern Railway zone amid the ongoing investigation into the accident, where the CRS (Commission of Railway Safety) has also submitted its final probe report to the Chairman of the Railway Board.

Sources have confirmed that the final probe report submitted by the CRS has held the station master responsible for the Balasore train accident. Here are the following recommendations given by CRS in its probe report for future precautions: 

• Point detection circuits should be carried in a separate cable for each.

• Point/Crossover without any intermediate termination.

• The point switch groups should be eliminated in El installations.

• Provision should be made for separate logging of physical relays in the station data-logger.

• RTU should be provided at end-goomties for logging of digital and analog inputs for ensuring end-to-end matching of the status of gears.

• The station masters should be made aware of possible faulty conditions of El system that could be detected through indications on the Panel; these should also be listed and incorporated in the SWR.

• As a long-term measure, signalling functions/gears should be directly connected to El, through OFC, eliminating intermediate relays.

Rahul Agarwal, Additional Member (Signal) in the Railway Board, the top position in Dept of Signal and Telecom, has been transferred to Lucknow as special director signal and telecom (RDSO) as a punishment posting. While, the general manager of South Eastern Railway was also transferred as general manager to the Rail Wheel Factory in Karnataka's Yelahanka last week in a series of relocations for senior officials of the zone.

Earlier, the Railway Board had transferred five senior zone officials, including the assistant general manager and the divisional railway manager. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Railway Board, appointed Anil Kumar Misra -- an Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers officer -- as the South Eastern Railway general manager, a post held by Archana Joshi.