CST collision: Inquiry panel blames motorman

But the report states there was no fault in the train’s system and that Purohit had not applied the service brake at the right time.

According to the Central Railway (CR) administration,the motorman has been put off duty and not suspended. A departmental inquiry will be initiated against him and accordingly a chargesheet will be issued.

Soon after the incident,an inquiry committee comprising senior officials from the electrical,safety and traffic departments was formed.

Sources said all equipment and software of the local train were checked thoroughly,but no fault was found in the system. When the data from the software of the computer-monitored train was presented before the inquiry panel,it was found that the motorman never tried to apply the regenerative brake because if it is applied and fails,the electro-pneumatic brake automatically stops the train.

If Purohit had applied the regenerative brake,the electro-pneumatic brake must have stopped the train,the report states. The data clearly showed that the motorman applied the emergency brake at a distance of 37 metres from the dead-end buffers,while he should have applied it at a distance of at least 200 metres.

“The inquiry committee said it will talk to Seimens’ authorities to save the data about the time a motorman tries to apply the brake and the air pressure of the applied break. Till now,data is saved only when application of brake fails. This modification will be for improvement. As far as this case is concerned,it has been established that the motorman never applied the brake in time,” said a senior CR official.

But Vinit Kumar,deputy general manager of CR,said the report had not been concluded yet.

CR starts work on FoB at Vikhroli
The Central Railway has started the preliminary construction work on foot over bridge (FOB) at Vikhroli (Mumbai end) as per the schedule. The new FOB will be constructed at an approximate cost of Rs 2 crore. According to Central Railway spokesperson,Railways is trying to complete the work of the new FOB to meet the deadline. Also,CR has allowed non-passengers to use the existing FOB at Vikhroli.

Last year on November 21,two persons died and one injured after being run over by a local train. The three accidents took place at the same spot and within a span of 3 hours. Commuters then protested and demanded that a FoB be built at Vikroli station.