Signal violation blamed for train crash

The preliminary findings of an investigation team revealed that the violation of signal by the drivers of Dhaka-bound Chattola Express is the main reason of the Wednesday's train accident that left at least 14 people dead in Narsingdi.Dhaka Divisional Railway Manager Md Habibur Rahman, the chief of a four-member probe body formed by the Bangladesh Railway to investigate the train accident, told The Daily Star that during their primary investigation they found two reasons that prompted the accident.
The two reasons--Chattola Loco masters (drivers) Rafiq Uddin, 42, and Mayeen Uddin, 30, at first ignored the signal and came to loop line (branch line) from the main track and secondly they also violated the speed limit while plying on the loop line.As per the railway rule, loco masters are permitted to ply their trains with a maximum speed of 16 km per hour. But the loco masters of the Chattola Express ran the train with a speed of 70 km per hour, Habibur added.At least 14 people were killed and over 100 injured, as two trains --Chittagong-bound intercity Mahanagar Godhuli and Dhaka-bound Chattola Express-- collided head-on at Narsingdi rail station Wednesday afternoon.Terming the drivers' stance as 'mysterious', Habibur said the drivers will be questioned in this regard after they regained their consciousness.The drivers are undergoing treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital in an unconscious state.Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain also termed the train accident as 'unusual'.The committee formed by his ministry will submit probe report within 48 hours, the minister said adding that the report would be made public.
Anyone, if found responsible for the incident, will be brought to justice, he told reports at Setu Bhaban in the morning.Meanwhile, the rescue operation was declared closed as no more body was found at Narsingdi Railway Station, the scene of the occurrence, till filing of the report around 1:00pm.In the meantime, the rail communications on Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet routes resumed partially Wednesday night nearly five hours after the accident.The authorities resumed train services on track No-3 since 9:00pm Wednesday while train movements on track number-1 and -2 remained suspended. The rail movements on the two tracks are expected to become normal by 3:00pm, Habibur said.He also said all the trains plying on the routes were delayed for few hours as they were running through a single track.Military personnel along with police, RapidAction Battalion (Rab) and firefighters were working on the spot to clear the routes.Four separatecommittees have so far been formed to investigate the accident.On Thursday, the BangladeshRailway formed two separate committees--one four-member headed by Habibur Rahman and anotherfour-memberheaded by Signal Training and Telecommunications chief of Dhaka.Earlier Wednesday night, two separate committees were formed by the communication ministry and deputy commissioner (DC) of Narsingdi.