Water gushed at 36 ft high breaching tracks, claims railways

 Railways today claimed that the twin train tragedy could not have been averted despite the monsoon preparedness and described the mishap as one of its kind and a "freak" incident.

There was no defect in the rail bridge nor there was any lack of monsoon preparedness and there was no flood alert for this section, Railway Board Member (Engineering) V K Gupta told reporters here.

Gupta, who had rushed to the accident site at Harda in Madhya Pradesh yesterday to see the situation at Ground Zero, said the flash floods that caused the derailment of coaches and one engine of two trains within a short span of time, was unprecedented and never seen before since the construction of the line in 1870.

"The line was constructed at 13 ft above the river bed and the water gushed at 36-ft high and 200 m width which is unprecedented and can be called freak, Gupta claimed.
The twin train mishap involving 17 coaches of two trains and an engine at Itarsi-Khandwa section in Harda claimed 25 lives and injuries many passengers.

Gupta further said "while one train was stationary another train coming from opposite direction on the second line also managed to stop at that affected section. But flash floods breached the track heavily as a result a few coaches got capsized."

Defending railways' preparedness he said, "It was not identified as a vulnerable section. All established norms were followed for monsoon preparedness," adding "the sudden flow of water was so huge that nothing could have been done."

He said though that section will be now identified as vulnerable, it is unlikely that such high tide will be happening in the near future.

Train movement has been adversely affected in the section due to the breach on the tracks.

However despite the flash floods, Gupta said bridges have not been affected and efforts are on to make one line operational by Sunday evening and it will take some more time for the second line.