Rajdhani derailed, blame bogey on track

However, Railway logs, accessed by The Indian Express, and interviews with present and former officials associated with the Rajdhani Express reveal a slightly different story. One of possible neglect and compromise and one that casts a shadow on the safety of what is considered the premier train on the country’s busiest route.

Consider the following facts:

» At 9:49 pm last night, the Sealdah Express bound for Jammu Tawi passed over Bridge No 445 on the Dhave river between Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone. This is the same bridge at which the accident occurred. No sign of any trouble.

» 20 minutes earlier, another goods train had passed over the bridge. No sign of any trouble.

» At 9.59 pm, a second goods train crossed the bridge. No sign of trouble again.

» At 10.36 pm, according to the logbook, the Rafiganj Station gave an all-clear signal to the Rajdhani Express which had left Gaya at 10.14 pm and was running at an average speed of 130 kmph.

Five minutes later, the Rajdhani veered off its tracks, its engine crossed the bridge, the next coach fell into the river bed, the next piled on top of it. The others—14 in all—crashed into each other in a mass of twisted metal and snapped high-tension wires. So between 9.59 pm and 10.41 pm, something went wrong.

Theoretically, experts say, you can remove fish plates in less than 20 minutes, if you know how to do it. So it wasn’t a surprise that at 6 am, when the first group of senior Railway police and officials reached the site, they all pointed to a spot 15 metres off the bridge: a loose fishplate with four bolts placed neatly next to each other.

‘‘This prima facie evidence suggests that the fishplates were tampered with,’’ said Nitish Kumar, claiming that a ‘‘recent technical inspection’’ found the tracks on the bridge to be one of the safest, ‘‘one of the best-maintained tracks of the Eastern Railway.’’

Eastern Railways general manager Sunil Sengupta agreed with his Minister: ‘‘The bolts and their groves haven’t been damaged. This indicates that sabotage was involved.’’

Few are buying this. Most experts say that one key reason could be the compromise on stringent safety norms specified for high-speed trains like the Rajdhani.

For example, when the first Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969, as the Howrah-New Delhi 301 Up, there was just one pair of trains in that premium segment. By 2002, the number of Rajdhanis, each thundering along at speeds of 130 kmph, has shot up to 16 pairs. And there are least 29 pairs of the Shatbadi, an equally fast train, running in different sectors of the railways.

Officials say there is a long list of safety stipulations for such trains starting from tracks, to coach to undergear and it’s inevitable that ‘‘corners will be cut’’ as the number of such trains soars year to year.

Himanshu Sekhar Sinha, a former Additional Chief Engineer who was involved with the Rajdhani’s maiden run and who retired as General Manager, Metro Rail, debunks the sabotage theory. He says that on such a high-density ‘‘grand chord,’’ sector where one train passes almost every 30 minutes, the possibility of removing fishplates is remote.

Moreover, track safety patrolling is also intensive and the system is quite foolproof with gangmen on patrol required to regularly submit their inspection reports.

Among the possible reasons identified by Sinha and other experts:

» Track subsidence occurs during monsoon and can damage track geometry. The ‘‘longitudinal level’’ and ‘‘cross level’’ of the track are vital for super-fast trains like the Rajdhani. Given that the maximum variation permissible is barely 2 to 3 mm, track maintenance is very crucial. Usually, it should involve constant monitoring with ultrasonic flaw detectors.

» For trains running at a speed of 130 kmph, the coach ‘‘tolerance level’’ is also key. For example, regular coach oscillation tests are required to ensure that rakes do not swing beyond permissible levels.

» The Commissioner of Railway Safety also stipulates a mandatory six hours for checking of Rajdhani coaches after each train arrives at a terminal point. There are security specifications for each undergear equipment starting from linkages to brakes, from cushions to couplings and from air conditioning to the weight of the coach.

‘‘But these norms are there in rulebooks, how far these are maintained is anybody’s guess,’’ says a senior railway official.

Bihar’s Inspector General of Railway Police J K Sinha says that it’s too early to point to sabotage given the manner in which were bolts were placed neatly next to each other.

Bihar’s IGP (Operations), Neelmani, also ruled out the possibility of sabotage. ‘‘The railway authorities have jumped to a conclusion without even caring to verify the ground realities,’’ he said.