- On November 9, 2024, Secunderabad-Shalimar Superfast Express derailed near Nalpur in Kharagpur Division
- The General Secretary of IRSTMU Alok Chandra Prakash raised the issues of the S&T department
KOLKATA. After engine crossed, the point suddenly reversed, taking the remaining part of the train to another track. In a strange incident, the point set for a track route got suddenly reversed, leading to the derailment of Train No 22850 Secunderabad-Shalimar Superfast Express near Nalpur in South Eastern Railway’s Kharagpur Division early on November 9, 2024. Though no casualties were reported, the derailment led to a total traffic disruption in the section. According to railway sources, a preliminary inquiry conducted by a team of senior officials representing various departments fixed responsibility on the Signal and Telecommunication Department and held the Operating Department blameworthy for the derailment. The team noted that the engine crossed Point No 26(B) into the Main Line while the remaining part of the train got diverted to the Middle Line. Three coaches were derailed.
Alok Chandra Prakash, General Secretary, IRSTMU
Investigation revealed that the rules set in G&SR are totally ignored and it’s very tragic that SM On Duty was saved his labour and not booked the Signal failures in SFR and no any memo of signal failure is given to the Signal Technician.
The General Secretary of IRSTMU Alok Chandra Prakash raised the issues of the S&T department. He said: The reason of accident is not affected the all above failures. This was bound to happen under any circumstances and such incidents will keep happening until the basic problems of the signal department are resolved. The working style of railway staffs of Kharagpur Division should be changed immediately and all staffs are being trained to follow G&SR.
A technician of the Signal and Telecommunication Department took the key of Relay Room from the Station Master of Nalpur at 4.55 a.m. for checking Signal No.10 and returned it at 6.05 am. The Station Master did not issue a failure memo and also no mention was made about the failure of Signal No.10 in the records.The signal technicians started attending to the failure of Signal No.10 without issuing disconnection notice. However, they recorded in the register that the Relay Room key was required to attend to Signal No. 10 “without hampering track movement.”
Malfunctioning of gear
The inquiry team concluded that Point No.26 got suddenly reversed under the wheel after the passage of the locomotive taking the remaining portion of the train to another route. “Derailment took place due to malfunctioning of Signal and Telecommunication Gear of Point No.26 under wheel,” the report said, adding that the coupling of the entire rake was intact.
In June 2023, a suspected signal failure in the same Kharagpur Division led to a devastating accident involving the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Superfast Express and two other trains. While signal was set for the main line, the speeding Coromandel Superfast Express entered the loop line where a goods train was stabled. About 290 passengers were killed in the accident and 900 others injured.
A few more train accidents were reported in the last two years where signal failures, especially in the automatic signalling territory, were alleged to be the reason.
