New Delhi: The Railway Board was aware of “short-cut” methods being used by the signalling staff two months before the Balasore tragedy, and had asked all zonal heads to instruct workers to avoid them, the Hindustan Times reported.The board had cited five “unsafe” incidents where signalling gears were reconnected without proper checks after maintenance work while flagging the issue in a letter dated April 3, the report said.The five incidents, including two derailments, occurred between January and March this year, the Hindu reported. In one of the incidents, a train cleared for arrival at Lucknow station entered the washing line area after cables cut by construction staff were reconnected without testing. Another train cleared for arrival in Kharkopar derailed after wrong wiring was done in the relay room by the signalling staff. The three other incidents were reported in Northern Railway, South Western Railway and West Central Railway zones, the Hindu report said.Terming the instances “alarming”, the Railway Board asked all general managers (GMs) to review these aspects every week in safety meetings at the divisional and headquarter levels, the Hindustan Times reported. “This is alarming and an issue of serious concern. The signalling gears were reconnected by Signal & Telecommunication staff without proper testing of points after blocks for switch/turnout replacement, wrong wiring during preparatory works, attending signal failures etc., Such practices reflect dilution of manual and codal provisions. Same are potential hazards to safety in train operations and need to be stopped,” R.N. Sunkar, Member (Infrastructure), Railway Board, said in the letter.The board, in its letter, had said that the situation on ground was not improving despite repeated instructions to avoid using short-cuts. The signals were being cleared without checking correspondence from site and without proper exchange of disconnection/reconnection memo with the operating staff, the letter said, according to the Hindustan Times.The letter was sent nearly two months before the tragic accident in Balasore on June 2. Three trains — Kolkata-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train — were involved in one of the worst railway tragedies in the country that left at least 289 dead and over 900 injured. Two parallel investigations — one by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) and another by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — are currently underway, the Hindustan Times reported.
