Balasore repeated as data-logger video shows train changed track before collision in TN: Experts
New Delhi (PTI): A day after a passenger train rammed into a stationary freight train near Chennai, experts and union leaders said according to the data-logger video, the Mysuru-Darbhanga Express train was given a green signal to pass through the main line, however, it entered a loop line already occupied by the freight train.
Train number 12578, Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express, collided with the stationary goods train at the Kavaraippettai railway station in the Chennai rail division in Tamil Nadu at around 8:30 pm on Friday, leading to injuries to nine passengers.
The data logger is a device placed in the station area to capture train movements and signal aspects, among other things.
This data logger's yard-simulation video has been circulated among senior railway officials' WhatsApp groups since Saturday morning, prompting them to draw a parallel between the accident and the Balasore train collision of June 2, 2023.
When contacted, the chief public relations officer (CPRO) of the Southern Railway said he is not aware of any such video and that multiple investigations have already been initiated into the collision.
In a press statement released late on Friday, the Railway Board also admitted that the passenger train was given a green signal for the main line but it experienced a jerk and entered the loop line, resulting in the collision with the freight train. A high-level enquiry has been ordered into the incident.
In Balasore, the Howrah-bound Coromandel Express was given a green signal for the main line. However, due to the wrong interlocking of tracks, it entered a loop line and collided with a stationary goods train.
"Based on the information available in the public domain, it appears that this collision almost repeats the Balasore train collision of June 2, 2023. The railways should take a serious approach to remove the anomalies in the signalling system," R Kumaresan, president, All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA), Southern Railway, said.
According to safety experts, in an automatic-signalling system, the signal aspect follows the interlocking of tracks. It means if the signal is green for the main line, the interlocking will automatically be set in such a way that the train comes on the main line.
"The lack of coordination between signal aspect and interlocking happens due to some fault in the signalling system. Prime facie, it appears to be some kind of a technical glitch," a safety expert said, requesting anonymity.
Sanjay Pandhi, the working president of the Indian Railway Loco Runningmen's Organisation (IRLRO), expressed surprise as according to him, all previous trains passed through the said station "without any abnormalities in the signalling and interlocking system".
"In Balasore, the collision happened soon after the signal-repair work was over. Contrary to that, there was no such thing reported at the Kavaraippettai railway station and train operations were normal.
"So it appears that some malfunction, which could be corrosion of mechanical equipment etc., might have happened, leading to a coordination break of signal and interlocking," Pandhi said.
K P Arya, who retired as the chief signal and telecom engineer/information technology in the Northern Railway, said, "The data logger's yard-simulation video shows that the train concerned is going on both the main line as well as the loop line, which is not possible."
"So there is a possibility that the train might have derailed at the interlocking point and while the engine and some coaches headed towards the loop line and collided with the freight train, the remaining coaches scattered all around, infringing the main line as well," he added.
Arya said it is a widely-known (but never officially acknowledged) engineering defect of tracks and interlocking-point mechanisms, which can cause such a derailment.
"I have gone on highlighting this aspect during my various tenures to the Railway Board as well as to the commissioner of railway safety," he said.
The experts said a clear picture would only emerge after a thorough investigation, which is already on.
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Netanyahu recommends his Cabinet approve Hezbollah cease-fire proposal
Beirut, Nov 26: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people.
The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon's Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal.
In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.
Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending.
The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel.
Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports the deal. If approved by all sides, the deal would be a major step toward ending the Israel-Hezbollah war that has inflamed tensions across the region and raised fears of an even wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah's patron, Iran.
The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides' compliance.
But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted on Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, doesn't provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.
“If you don't act, we will act, and with great force,” Katz said, speaking with UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel's security concerns had been addressed in the deal also brokered by France.
“There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” Borrell told reporters in Italy on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said France would participate on the ceasefire implementation committee at Lebanon's request.
Bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs continues
Even as Israeli, US, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah's military capabilities.
An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city's downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure.
Earlier, Israeli jets struck at least six buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs. One strike slammed near the country's only airport, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The airport has continued to function despite its location on the Mediterranean coast next to the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah's operations are based.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where UNIFIL is headquartered.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate.
Other strikes hit in the southern city of Tyre, where the Israeli military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander.
The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometres from the Israeli border.
Previous ceasefire hopes were dashed
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian-backed force in the region, would likely significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It's not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.
Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country's north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.
After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted there could be last-minute hitches that delay or destroy an agreement.
“Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
While the ceasefire proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
