Sabkush Headlines: The day after, some baffling questionsThe day after, some baffling questions
Normally, when a train approaches a station for a halt, it comes in at a speed of about 20-40 kmph at the outer signal and slows down to about 20 kmph at the first `touching point of the station. But the Sealdah-bound Uttarbanga Express had clocked an unexplainable 60 kmph at the outer signal. With this speed it would have been near impossible to stop at the station. Why?Preliminary probe has also indicated that Uttarbanga Express was moving at a speed of over 60 kms per, nearly 40 kms per hour more than the limit, and overshot the signal resulting in the fatal incident. "Prime facia, it appears the Uttarbanga Express was speeding at 63 kmph at the time of collision. This was unusual that the driver was accelerating at more than 60 kmph into a station despite it being a scheduled stoppage for it," the official said. The Sealdah-bound Uttarbanga Express that was running 25 minutes ahead of its scheduled time while rolling into Sainthia. Despite being ahead of schedule, why was the train travelling at abnormally high speed when it approached Sainthia station? Railway authorities have been left perplexed as to why the driver and the assistant driver of the Uttarbanga Express failed to heed frantic announcements being made over the loudspeakers to control the speed of the train. The Ranchi-bound Vananchal Express, which was running five hours late, had just begun to leave the Sainthia station. This means another train cannot come on the same line as the signal would have been red for an incoming train at the outer. The home signal was not given, claimed Assistant Station Master Chakraborty. So, was the signalling system tampered with? Even the answer is yes, there is no answer as to why the Uttarbanga Express was at such a great speed while approaching the station. On seeing the Uttarbanga Express coming at such a high speed, the assistant station master had reportedly used the used loudspeakers at the station asking the driver of the Uttarbanga to immediately apply brakes. There was no reaction from the driver or his assistant. So were the driver and the assistant driver sleeping or not fully conscious? A few minutes earlier, the driver of the Uttarbanga Express had correctly halted the train at previous station. How come he and his assistant went into a sudden sleep? Driver M C Dey along with assistant driver N K Mandal died on the spot in the accident. Dey seemed to have even overlooked the speed restriction of 30 kmph on a bridge just ahead of the station and was racing ahead, the official said. Was Dey over-stressed? No, say railway officials. "Dey had an unblemished accident-free record and was promoted recently. Moreover he had adequate rest before taking charge of the train at Malda station, five hours before the accident," the official said. Prior to the accident, Dey had a conversation with the Railway Station staff at Rampurhat, which falls just ahead of Sainthia, and that showed that he was in absolute control of the train, ruling out the possibility of his being in inebriated condition, the official said. Initial reports said that the driver did not use the brake or make any effort to apply the brake - a practice done while approaching a station. Both of them were sitting on their chairs at the time of accident. Any normal person will stand up and try to jump off the train. But they did not make any effort to save their lives by jumping off the train. Why did they not do this? Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who reached the site of the mishap, expressed her "strong suspicion" over the cause of the disaster. "We have some doubts in our mind. Whatever happened is apparently not an unorchestrated development," she said. What are these suspicions? Left hand, Maoists or just a lame excuse? Railway Board Chairman Vivek Sahai told media persons that the railways would shortly use anti-collision device. And then he added: the anti-collision device was very costly
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