Pilots Were Watching Cricket Match When Trains Collided in October 23: Vaishnaw
Visakhapatnam: The collision between the Vizag-Rayagada train and the Vizag-Palasa train — caused due to the former overshooting the signal — that killed 14 persons was caused due to the locomotive pilot and his assistant being distracted by a cricket match on a phone, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
A committee led by Pranjeev Saxena, commissioner of railway safety (CRS), South Central Circle, Secunderabad, conducted the inquiry into the collision of two passenger trains, but it was yet to be made public.
Both pilots were among those to die, with 50 others injured in the incident that took place between Kantakapalle and Alamanda of Vizianagaram district on October 29, 2023. The two trains collided on the Howrah-Chennai line, it was revealed.
Speaking in New Delhi on Sunday about the new railway safety measures, he referenced the Andhra Pradesh incident and said new security features will ensure such incidents are checked.
“Now, we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction and make sure that the pilots and the assistant pilots are fully focused on running the train,” he said.
Emphasising passenger safety as the top priority, Vaishnaw said the Indian Railways would try to find out the core cause of every mishap and ascertain the core cause to come up with measures to check such instances.
A preliminary railway probe, a day after the accident, held the pilot and his assistant of the Rayagada train responsible as it had overshot two signals.