No evidence of loco pilots watching cricket during A.P. train crash as claimed by Railway Minister

Analysis of mobile data usage offers no proof for the charge against the loco pilots, who both died in the crash; Railways had banned on duty crew usage of bluetooth headphones after the Minister’s claim

Chennai: The investigation into last year’s tragic collision of two #passenger trains in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, which left 17 passengers dead and 34 injured, has not revealed any #evidence to prove that the #LocoPilots of one of the trains were watching cricket at the time of the accident.

In March this year, Minister for Railways Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw had claimed that “both the loco pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the cricket match which was going on”.

Also Read Earlier Article: “Vijayanagaram train accident: The collision could have been averted had the crew and operating staff followed the rules -CRS”

According to sources in the East Coast Railway (#ECoR), the analysis of #data usage on mobile phones used by Loco Pilot S.M.S Rao and Assistant Loco Pilot S. Chiranjeevi — both of whom died in the accident — gave no indication that they were watching cricket. The call details and data usage were analysed by the Senior Divisional Signal and Telecommunications Engineer (#SrDSTE) and the Senior Divisional Safety Officer (#SrDSO) of the Waltair Division. The Commissioner of Railway Safety (#CRS) Pranjeev Saxena, who conducted a detailed inquiry into the accident, has also not made any mention about the loco pilots watching cricket in his report.

Distracted

Apart from the two loco pilots, the train manager or #guard of the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger also died when their #train collided with the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger on October 29, 2023. The #CRS inquiry concluded that an “error in train working” caused the #accident and held the train #crew and operating staff responsible for the crash, among others.

On March 3, however, the #RailMinister told a news agency in New Delhi that, “both the loco pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the #cricket match which was going on. Now we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction and make sure that the loco pilots and the assistant pilots are fully focussed on running the train.” However, the sources said that there is no evidence to confirm Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw’s charge.

A senior official in Waltair Division said that it was a “grave” mistake to have gone on record accusing the loco pilot and his assistant, who had both died on the spot, of watching cricket while on duty. “There is no evidence to prove this now… It was just a rumour. We have provided employment to their spouses on compassionate grounds,” said the officer, who did not wish to be named.

Headphone use banned

After Mr. #AshwiniVaishnaw made his statement, the #Railways had issued an order banning the use of bluetooth headphones among crew members during duty hours. In a circular dated March 19, the Southern Railway referred to the accident and said that, during preliminary investigations, it had been established that the crew of Train No. 08504 Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger had failed to adhere to the signal protocols, thereby precipitating the collision.

“Shockingly, it came to light that the crew members were engrossed in watching a cricket match on their mobile phones, facilitated by the use of bluetooth devices of headphones. This blatant disregard for #Safety protocols is utterly unacceptable and places countless lives at grave risk,” Akhil S. Anand, Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer (#SrDEE), Chennai Division, had said in the order.

A similar circular was issued by the #SrDSO of South East Central Railway (#SECR) on March 12.

Courtesy: The Hindu – “No evidence of loco pilots watching cricket during A.P. train crash as claimed by Railway Minister”