Hours after the deadly collision, certain political leaders from among the Congress and the Trinamool Congress were quick to attribute the cause to a sabotage––an allusion to the involvement of the Maoists or other political groupings.
Now, a day after the ghastly disaster, Railway officials refused to believe that an experienced driver like Madhav Chandra Dey and his assistant, who were in charge of the locomotive that powered the Uttarbanga Express which sped at 90 miles an hour before smashing into the Vananchal Express train, would be so “foolish and casual” as to “recklessly step on the accelerator” especially when they were to make a scheduled stop at Sainthia station.
The officials do not agree with Railway Board Chairman Vivek Sahay’s contention that the accident was the result of a “driver error”, a factor which Sainthia station signal in-charge Rehmat Ali has agreed to. The guard of Uttarbanga Express is now under interrogation.
“I am sure that the red signal was on. But the driver violated it and drove the train into the platform. Besides, neither the driver nor the guard contacted me saying that (the train’s) brakes were not working,” Ali said here on Tuesday.
According to Ali, the Sainthia station master had alerted the Uttarbanga Express driver over walkie talkie and asked him to stop the train as the signal was turned red and there was another train on the platform, Ali said, adding that the station master received no response from either Dey or his assistant. “Within 30 seconds, the two trains collided,” Ali said.
Investigators probing the crash are wondering what stopped Dey and assistant driver N Mondal to ignore the red signal and the station master’s alert.
“We are trying to ascertain what went wrong in the precious minutes before the Uttarbanga Express crashed into the Ranchi-bound train. The driver and his assistant were experienced and prima facie evidence indicates that neither were brakes applied nor did they take recourse to any emergency means to stop the train,” Sahay told reporters here.
The mystery over the accident has deepened after questions why Dey and Mondal did not try to save themselves by jumping off the train. “We found during rescue operations that both were on their respective seats. Normally, a person in distress or faced with a collision situation would try to jump off the train,” Sahay said.
This has prompted Railways officials to suspect whether the drivers were held captive or their meals were laced with some substance that made them doze off when the train stopped at a station 9 km ahead of Sainthia. Even the family of Dey, who joined the railway service in 1975, refused to believe that a person who conferred with the “Driver of the Month” award a couple of months back would commit an error with such disastrous consequences.
“We know our father well. He enjoyed driving trains. After a successful stint with steam engines, he was promoted as a diesel locomotive driver. He is anything but irresponsible,” claimed Dey’s daughter Madhumita who reached Sainthia in the morning.
The probe team has stumbled upon another clue which could be vital in shedding some light on the mystery. As the Vananchal Express was about to leave platform number 4, someone on board pulled the chain, stopping the train’s motion. “While bags of chilly were being loaded into the luggage van of Vananchal Express after the chain was pulled, the signal apparently turned green on the other side, to facilitate the entry of Uttarbanga Express. But none had an inkling that the latter would hurtle in at such breakneck speed,” said a probe team member.
Stating that the Railways would investigate every angle of the accident, Sahay maintained: “We understand he (the driver) ignored the whole thing. But the root question is how an experienced person like him could commit such an error?”
Ruling out driver fatigue, Sahay said Dey got rest for 19 hours before taking control of Uttarbanga Express. Asked whether sabotage could be a cause, Sahay said: “We are trying to investigate and understand.”
The Railway Board chairman said anti-collision devices, which are quite costly, would now be introduced in the South Central and South Western Railways in phases. Commending his colleagues in the Railways, Sahay said: “I command a very devoted, obedient club of men. They are doing an excellent job”.