The preliminary report on the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailment blames negligence by the railway engineering section. The train derailed in Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday (July 18), killing four and injuring several.
The six-member team investigating the accident found that workers were aware of a fault in the track but did not act on it. A trackman had warned a junior engineer about the defect about an hour before the accident, but no precaution was taken, and the train was not slowed down.
The report states that the site should have been protected until a caution order was issued, but it wasn’t, leading to the derailment. Additionally, cloth pieces were used with 72 elastic rail clips to secure the track, which was deemed inadequate.
The investigation team also discovered that a speed restriction memo for the Motiganj station was issued just after the derailment occurred. One team member disagreed with the report, claiming the IMR spot was fine and not responsible for the derailment.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) will conduct a final investigation starting Sunday (July 21).
