At 8.55am, the goods train rammed into the back of the Kanchanjunga Express just before Rangapani town and around 10km away from New Jalpaiguri station.
A combination of a signalling fault on the tracks before the New Jalpaiguri station and human error by the driver of the freight train are likely to have led to a deadly collision in West Bengal that killed nine people and injured dozens, said railway officials, adding that the commissioner of railway safety (CRS) has launched a probe into the accident.
“The actual cause of the accident will be clear after the CRS report,” railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said after an inspection at the spot around 4pm.
Railway Board chairperson Jaya Varma Sinha confirmed that human error may have played a role in the crash, the worst train accident in India since the Balasore accident in June last year that killed 296 people.
“Prima facie, it appears to be human error but we will know more after the inquiry… let me assure you that safety is our priority,” said Sinha.
The nine people killed include the driver of the goods train as well as the guard and seven passengers of the Kanchanjunga Express, which was headed from Sabroom in Tripura to Kolkata in West Bengal., carrying 1,300 people.
“Unfortunately, the driver (of the cargo train) also perished in the accident…. Whatever we can gather from the situation, it seems there was a disregard for the signal,” she said.
At 8.55am, the goods train rammed into the back of the Kanchanjunga Express just before Rangapani town and around 10km away from New Jalpaiguri station.
According to internal documents seen by HT, the automatic signalling system between Ranipatra railway station and Chattar Hat junction in West Bengal, some stations before New Jalpaiguri, was not working since 5.50am on Monday, prompting the New Jalpaiguri station master to issue a cautionary note known as “T/A912” to all drivers passing through the section.
The T/A912 authorisation allows pilots to skip red lights on affected sections, subject to some key clauses. One of these stipulates that pilots must drive at speeds below 15km/hr if conditions are clear, and below 10km/hr in the event of rain (as it was on the section on Monday morning).
Another says all train drivers passing through the section must wait before every signal for a minute during day time and for two minutes during nights.