The internal note of a senior official of South Western Railway (SWR) pointing to violation of established norms and flaws in the signalling system and maintenance, led to month-long counselling for nearly 2,200 frontline signalling staff.
An incident at Hosadurga Road Station of Birur-Chikjajur section of the Mysuru division in February this year was flagged by the official and it resulted in disciplinary action of the erring staff as well.
The observations of Hari Shankar Verma, who was then the Principal Chief Operations Manager of South Western Railway, noted serious flaws and lacunae in the signalling system and had pointed out that a collision between Sampark Kranti Express and a freight train was avoided by the alertness of the loco pilot on February 8.
The internal note has now surfaced and gained significance after the train accident at Balasore in Odisha on Friday.
A senior SWR official said that the observations of Mr. Verma led to an internal inquiry and two staff responsible for maintenance of the signalling equipment were subjected to disciplinary action for not following the norms. Besides, more than 2,200 frontline staff engaged in repair and maintenance of signalling equipment were counselled for a month to follow the established protocols and not to adopt “shortcuts,” said the official.
Mr. Verma, who is now the Director-General of Indian Railways Institute of Transport Management in Lucknow, had called for persistent counselling of maintenance staff apart from a detailed inspection as mandated in the signal manual. He had warned that if the signal maintenance system was not monitored and corrected immediately for its flaws, then it could lead to serious accidents.
