Balasore Train Crash: CRS Report Points Towards ‘Wrong Labelling Of Location Box Wires’

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has submitted its report on the Balasore train accident in Odisha that claimed over 293 lives in June this year. The report pointed out faults from the signaling and telecommunication department.

The CRS report found that the wrong labelling of wires inside the level-crossing location box remained undetected for years and ultimately led to a mix-up during maintenance work, causing the tragedy, The Indian Express reported.

Positioned near tracks, location boxes have track-occupancy sensors, signalling lights and other critical elements that enable the smooth functioning of the interlocking system.

Negligence of the staff while following the standard operating procedures of the electronic interlocking system has been the cause of the accident, the report states.

The interlocking system ensures that conflicting signals are not sent, resulting in more than one train ending up on the same section of the track.