Southern Railway makes probe into sabotage mandatory at accident sites

Southern Railway has made it mandatory for security agencies to promptly take up investigation into all train accidents for sabotage and certify completion of probe before allowing the Engineering Department to start restoration works.

The new diktat comes following the Kavaraipettai rail accident near Chennai in which an express train collided with a stationary goods train in October 2024.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has been entrusted with the responsibility of assisting the Government Railway Police (GRP) in conducting the probe at accident sites with its Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad and sniffer dogs.

The RPF team should also videograph the track at the accident site for investigation, and help the GRP in collecting physical clues, if any, in case of sabotage or acts of miscreants.

This was insisted upon by Southern Railway Principal Chief Safety Officer (PCSO) Ganesh during an accident drill held at Koodal Nagar railway station on Friday. He stressed collection of evidence to prove sabotage as the security agencies and the railway officials had failed to look at it before commencing restoration work at Kavarapettai.

Besides, he said, the railway officials should not start restoration work till the GRP certified completion of investigation so that the evidence of sabotage or acts of miscreants was not tampered with.

Recalling the rescue operation at Kavarapettai, Mr. Ganesh said doctors and ambulances were mobilised for rescuing injured passengers immediately. “This avoided delay in taking up rescue work and providing treatment to the passengers much before the Accident Relief Train could reach the spot from the divisional headquarters,” he said.

Railway doctors had been advised to collect contact details of doctors and private ambulances along the railway tracks in their regions. Similarly, the services of ambulances of the National Highways Authority of India could be used for rescuing passengers, he said.

The PCSO instructed officials to share the drawings of various types of railway coaches to the National Disaster Response Force so that its personnel were aware of the design and plan and start rescue operation promptly.

The railway officials had been suggested to set up cranes mounted on bogie flat for rails wagon for moving them before the railways crane could reach the spot.

A divisional officer suggested that multi-SIM aggregators could be used instead of V-Sat communication equipment, which was very difficult to handle due to its heavy weight and limitation of signal strength in some locations.