Faulty inter-locking puts Mangaluru Mail on the wrong track
Alert loco-pilot saves day, probe ordered into a serious safety lapse
Chennai: Passengers traveling on the Chennai-Mangaluru Mail on Wednesday, 21st November, night had no idea it could have well been on the way to Vijayawada in the opposite direction, courtesy a serious signal and interlocking error between Chennai Central Railway Station and Basin Bridge junction (BBQ).
That no such thing happened was thanks to alert loco pilot D. Benstoy who noticed something amiss and stopped the train, moving at less than 30kmph, before Basin Bridge.
After the train (12601) left Chennai Central at 8.22pm, the home signal before Basin Bridge junction (home signal 2A) showed green, but the track point was set towards Korukkupet, instead of Vyasarpadi, a serious safety lapse.
This is an important track point that is automatically operated. It ensures trains bound for Korukkupet-Gudur-Vijayawada are routed right and those bound for Vyasarpadi-Tiruvallur-Arakkonam routed left.
“Routing the train to the wrong track could have been disastrous as it could have collided with another train on that track. The loco pilot even had the green signal to proceed,” said a railway source.
A senior railway official said that the wrong interlocking happened due to faulty wiring after a recent maintenance session. An inquiry has been ordered and will look into the reasons for the lapse, which based on preliminary investigations is attributed to the Signal and Telecom (S&T) department.
Around 8.20pm, sources said, the BBQ cabin official began the process of ensuring track point 50 was cleared towards the Vyasarpadi side. The point, sources added, was not responding to the normal position and was towards the Korukkupet side. The train was stopped by the loco-pilot despite the green signal as he sensed something amiss.
Sources said a failure was notified, but around 8.40pm when the signal 2A was once again cleared, point 50 was towards the Korukkupet side yet again. It was later restored around 8.45pm, said sources. The train passed Basin Bridge junction at 8.45pm.
When contacted, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai Naveen Gulati told that action had been initiated with regard to the lapse.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened. Around a year ago, a ‘fast’ EMU (suburban train) bound for Tiruttani was routed towards the Gummidipoondi section by the BBQ station master. After this, the Chennai division canceled operation of fast locals on the route and moved them to the slow line.
Courtesy: TOI