Coromandel Express Accident: At Least 288 Killed, 1,000 Injured In Triple Train Crash

Describing the Odisha train tragedy as 'deeply distressing', industrialist Gautam Adani on Sunday offered to take responsibility for the school education of the children who lost their parents in the worst train accident in decades.

The chairperson of the Adani Group said in his tweet, "We are all deeply distressed by the Odisha train accident. We have decided that the Adani Group will take responsibility for the school education of the innocent people who have lost their parents in this accident."

"It is the joint responsibility of all of us to provide strength to the victims and their families and a better tomorrow to the children," he said in the tweet.

Disclaimer: AMG Media Networks Ltd., a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd., holds 49% stake in Quintillion Business Media Ltd., the owner of BQ Prime.

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court against the backdrop of India’s deadliest train crash in nearly three decades. The PIL calls for setting up an expert commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. The expert panel should analyse and review the current risks and safety parameters in the railway system and suggest systematic safety modifications for strengthening railway safety mechanisms, it said.

It has also been requested that the expert commission conclude its probe into the Odisha train crash and submit its report to the apex court within two months.

The petition has sought guidelines to be issued for the implementation of an Automatic Train Protection System called ‘Kavach’ with immediate effect to ensure public safety.

Kavach is an SOS feature to control trains in emergency situations. By automatically applying brakes when necessary, the system ensures better control over train speed and prevents potential accidents.

The root cause of the three-train crash in Odisha's Balasore district has been identified and the Railways is aiming to restore normal services on the affected tracks by Wednesday, according to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Talking to reporters at the accident site, he said the issue is of electric point machine, a vital device for railway signalling, and electronic interlocking.

The change that was made to electronic interlocking which led to the accident has been identified, Vaishnaw said while denying that the incident had anything to do with the anti-collision system 'Kavach'.

The restoration work was being carried out on a war footing and tracks have already been laid on one of the main lines, he said.

Vaishnaw said the railway aims to complete restoration work on tracks by Wednesday. The work on repairing tracks and overhead electric lines is in progress. Earlier in the day, the railway tracks had been cleared of wrecked coaches.

"We have mobilised all resources. I also want to say that Kavach has nothing to do with the accident. This accident occurred due to changes to the electronic interlocking system. The remarks of (West Bengal chief minister) Mamata Banerjee is not true," Vaishnaw said.

'The setting of the point machine was changed. How and why it was done will be revealed in the probe report,' he said.

An electric point machine is a vital device for railway signalling for quick operation and locking of point switches and plays an important role in the safe running of trains. Failure of these machines severely affects train movement and deficiencies at the time of installation can result in unsafe conditions.

The preliminary probe report, a copy of which is with PTI, said the signal was given and taken off for the up main line for train number 12841 (Coromandel Express). The train entered the loop line, dashed with the goods train and derailed. In the meantime, train number 12864 (Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express) passed through the down main line and two of its coaches derailed and capsized, the report said.

Of the 127 people hailing from Tamil Nadu who had reserved tickets in Coromandel Express, contact could not be established with eight people and the rest were safe, the state government said on Sunday.

As per information received so far on the train accident, no person from Tamil Nadu was killed or injured warranting treatment.

Based on the information on passengers provided by the Southern Railway, a list of 127 Tamil Nadu people—who had furnished residential addresses in Tamil Nadu and those who had Tamil names—was prepared. They had reserved tickets on the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express.

The State Emergency Operation Centre got in touch them and 119 were safe and eight others could not be contacted as their contact details, including mobile numbers were unavailable, an official release said.

Of the eight persons, two were women and six men and relatives or friends who had information on them may convey it to the SEOC. Toll free number is 1070 and 9445869843 is the mobile number.

Narakanigopi (34), Karthik (19), Raghunath (21), Meena (66), A Jagadeesan (47), Kamal (26), Kalpana (19) and Arun (21) were the eight persons with whom contact could not be established