Railway lines restored to traffic after Baghmati Express accident; Southern Railway probing from multiple angles

A senior GRP official said the accident was being investigated from various angles, including human sabotage.

The Southern Railway restored all railway lines to traffic on Sunday (October 13, 2024) after the train accident involving the Baghmati Express at Kavaraipettai in Tiruvallur district on Friday (October 11, 2024) night.

Commissioner of Railway Safety (Southern Circle) A.M. Choudhary will conduct a statutory inquiry of the train accident at the Chennai Divisional Railway Manager’s office on October 16 and 17, where the public can share evidence regarding the accident.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) of Korukkupet station has also started investigation, along with the Railway Safety Commissioner and National Investigation Agency officials, by visiting the accident site on Saturday (October 12, 2024). A senior GRP official said the accident was being investigated from various angles, including human sabotage, by conducting enquiries with the Baghmati Express loco pilot Subramanian, assistant pilot Ram Avatar Meena, Kavarappet Station Manager Mani Prasad Babu and others.

As there is a ground for vandalism resulting in the accident, GRP Superintendent of Police Iswaran, along with Salem Railway DSP Periasamy, Egmore Railway DSP Ramesh and Central Railway Station DSP Karnan and other GRP officials, conducted a review meeting on Sunday (October 13, 2024).Also, the cybercrime wing of GRP has been deployed to check the call logs of the cell phone tower near the accident site to find out any human presence at the site at the time of the accident.

A loco driver said a similar incident took place near Ponneri Railway Station on September 21. He wanted closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed to prevent incidents of sabotage in future.

Railway lines restored

Meanwhile, the railway staff restored the up-line tracks towards Dr. MGR Chennai Central station on Saturday (October 12, 2024) and completed the overhead electrical (OHE) work to make the downline towards the Gudur section fit for train operations. They fully restored the two lines on Sunday (October 13, 2024).

The Baghmati Express train (12578) operated from Mysuru in Karnataka to Darbhanga in Bihar met with an accident after it dashed into a stationary goods wagon at Kavaraipettai in Tiruvallur district. A total of 20 persons were injured, and two coaches caught fire.

M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, said the track was made fit by operating the Shalimar Coromandel Express (12482) from Dr. MGR Chennai Central and beyond the Kavaraipettai accident spot on Sunday (October 13, 2024) morning.

“The main line in the section was restored to traffic in record time after the accident,” he said. The Southern Railway, which had stopped suburban train services from Central to Gummidipoondi and operated services till Minjur as passenger specials, resumed suburban train services from 8.30 a.m. on Sunday (October 13, 2024) at one-hour intervals.

Published - October 13, 2024 09:57 pm IST