Odisha train tragedy: Why railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw should resign. Congress lists 9 reasons

Senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Sunday slammed Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw pertaining to the fatal railway accident that took place on 2nd June night. In a series of tweets, Surjewala shared nine reasons related to the Balasore train accident and gave justification for why Vaishnaw should quit his post.

According to the Congress leader, 'Railway Minister & Rail Ministry were immune to the critical warning on the failure of Signalling System that had been given".

Surjewala stated that on 9 February 2023, the Chief Operating Manager of South Western Railway Zone wrote about the failure of the Signalling System.

"Serious flaws in the system where the route of dispatch gets altered after a train starts on signals with the correct appearance of the route in the SMS panel. This contravenes the essence and basic principles of interlocking," Surjewala quoted COM's statement.

The official had also warned that if the signal maintenance system was not monitored and corrected immediately, it could lead to "re-occurrence and serious accidents," Surjewala wrote.

Further, the Congress leader highlighted the absence of Vaishnaw at the 2nd June meeting in the Railway Chintan Shivir (hours before the Odisha train accident) and concentrated on the launch of the Vande Bharat train and increased revenues.

The Congress Rajya Sabha MP questioned, "Isn't the increased lapse of Railway Safety owing to lack of required human resources - availability of foot soldiers like Gang man, Station Masters, Loco Pilots, etc? Isn't it correct that the majority of 39 Railway Zones lack the required human resource as per an RTI reply given by railways? Isn't it correct that 3,11,000 Posts of Group C are vacant in Railways thereby jeopardising Rail Safety as also operational efficacy? Isn't it correct that 3,081 out of 18,881 Gazetted Cadre posts are lying vacant in Railways?"

Surjwala stated, "Isn't it correct that the Year 2022-23 saw 48 "Consequential Train Accidents" (train accidents having serious repercussions in terms of loss of lives, property etc.) as compared to 35 such accidents the previous year? Isn't it correct that the Year 2022-23 witnessed 165 'Non Consequential Train Accidents", including 35 cases of "Signal Passed at Danger - SPAD'?"

On Friday, the triple train accident claimed the lives of 288 passengers so far and has left over 1,000 injured.

The preliminary report on the tragedy said that the three-way accident involved Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Coromandel Express, and the goods train on three separate tracks at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Balasore district.

It had been said that 17 coaches of these two trains were derailed and severely damaged.

Meanwhile, Vaishnaw told the media that the Odisha rail happened because of an error in the electronic signaling system that led a train to wrongly change tracks.

The Press Trust of India news agency earlier reported that preliminary investigations 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.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.