Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
The Secunderabad-Shalimar Weekly Superfast Express derailed at West Bengal’s Nalpur station on 9th November 2024. When the train’s engine was moving on the main line and had just crossed a track changing point a sudden command to the interlocking system diverted the coaches onto another line, leading to the derailment of three coaches. Luckily the incident didn’t cause any casualty or injuries to passengers which else would have been a catastrophe.
It was reported on 25th September that the Deputy Chief Safety Officer (Signal & Telecom), East Central Railway zone circulated a safety bulletin to senior Indian Railway officials on 23rd August 2025 in which he declared the shocking cause of the derailment. He concluded that the Siemens K-50 latch relay used was manufactured in September 1989 and was commissioned in March 1999. Thus at the time of commissioning itself a considerable period of its life, in this case 10 years, was over. The report further states that the relay was thus already outdated when it was fitted. The report further advises that such equipment being installed should not be older than 2 years. The probe by the enquiry committee has apparently also highlighted poor maintenance of the relay as a result of which only one screw was used for holding the relay. The enquiry team simulated this condition and found that even accidental brushing of the relay detaches the relay. The probe revealed that the essential principle of signalling was violated in the said incident. “In a sound design of the circuit, failure of one signal component should not result in a major unsafe incident. A second layer of design, and hence its interlocking, providing a fail-safe route of the moving train over a critical component should have been there,” the probe reportedly said.
This report raises many questions.
Firstly, how was a relay as old as 10 years after date of manufacture was fitted in the signalling system? Who authorised it? Was it because of continued pressure on Indian Railway workers to reduce the maintenance cost? Will this be investigated and the seniormost officials and Ministers called to account?
The probe has reportedly recommended the replacement of such old systems with the new ones at all other stations where this system is still in use. So the second question which needs to be answered is what plan Indian Railway has chalked out for replacing such old systems as recommended ? What is the time line for this action and who will be responsible for this?
We have all often experienced that whenever any mishap happens, Indian Railway officials and even Railway Ministers, within just a few hours, blame some or the other Indian Railway workers. In most of the cases people of our country are not even told the results of the final probe. As in this case, very rarely when such reports come out, more often than not some systemic failures or policy failures are revealed.
It is very clear that maintenance of such sensitive equipment which have major bearing on railway safety is a very critical activity. Should such activity be allowed to be outsourced to contract workers by Indian Railways? Obvious answer is a resounding NO! That is why, not only Indian Railway workers of S&T category, but workers of other categories have written to the Railway Board to scrap the plan of Indian Railways to outsource many S&T department activities.
Such reports which are very rare, also underscore the importance of conducting impartial enquiry of any mishaps in Indian Railways, by a committee consisting of not only Railway Board officials but also representatives of at least operating categories like track maintainers, loco-pilots, station masters, guards, S&T etc. so also people’s representatives. It is also important to demand that reports by such committees should be released expeditiously and that Indian Railways must release a plan of action to avoid such mishaps in future.