The cause of the train crash in India which killed over 300 has been revealed today.
The rail smash in eastern India was caused by an error in the electronic signalling system which led to a train wrongly changing tracks, the railways minister said on Sunday.
“Who has done it and what is the reason will come out of an investigation,” Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an interview with New Delhi Television network.
The explanation came as authorities worked to clear the mangled wreckage of the two trains that derailed in the Balasore district of eastern Odisha state on Friday night, in one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in decades.
Preliminary investigations had revealed that a signal was given to the Coromandel Express to enter the main track line but the signal was later taken off.The train entered another line, known as the loop line, and crashed into a goods train parked there, PTI said.
Fifteen bodies were recovered on Saturday evening and efforts continued overnight as heavy cranes were used to remove an engine that had settled on top of a rail car.
No bodies were found in the engine and the work was completed on Sunday morning, said Sudhanshu Sarangi, director-general of fire and emergency services in Odisha.The accident happened at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focusing on the modernisation of the British colonial-era railroad network in India, which has become the world’s most populous country with 1.42 billion people.
Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.
Chaotic scenes erupted on Friday night as rescuers climbed on top of the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to try to save people who were trapped inside the carriages.
Mr Modi went to the crash site on Saturday to see the relief effort and talk to rescue officials.
He also visited a hospital, where he asked doctors about the treatments being given to the injured, and spoke to some of the patients.
He told reporters he felt the pain of those who suffered in the accident, and said the government will do its utmost to help them and strictly punish anyone found responsible.
Ten to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell on to a nearby track.
The debris was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, causing up to three coaches of the second train to also derail, said a rail ministry spokesman.
Source: Mirror
In other news-Songwriter Cynthia Weil dies at 82
Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “On Broadway,” “Walking in the Rain” and dozens of other hits, has died at age 82.
Her death was confirmed Friday by Interdependence Public Relations, which represents Mann’s daughter, Dr. Jenn Mann. A spokesperson did not immediately have further details.
Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, married in 1961, were one of popular music’s most successful teams, part of a remarkable ensemble recruited by impresarios Don Kirshner and Al Nevins and based in Manhattan’s Brill Building neighborhood, a few blocks from Times Square. With such hit-making combinations as Carole King and Gerry Goffin and Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the Brill Building song factory turned out many of the biggest singles of the ’60s and beyond. Learn more
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