log on to thegoan.net MONDAY JUNE 5, 2023 GOA @thegoaneveryday Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday The Goan (Playstore) 12 pages PRICE ` 8 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 348 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 6 2 Driver’s error ruled out in train crash, now eyes on ‘sabotage’ Traffic chaos looms in Margao as schools reopen today GOA Tempers fray at Chimbel gram sabha over project near Hindu crematorium INFO Showering mistakes you probably didn’t know MINISTER SAYS PEOPLE BEHIND 'CRIMINAL' ACT IDENTIFIED, ELECTRONIC INTERLOCKING SYSTEM TAMPERED CBI INVESTIGATION SOUGHT Audit flagged serious rail safety concerns PTI NEW DELHI The railways on Sunday virtually ruled out driver error and system malfunction, indicating a possible “sabotage” and tampering of the electronic interlocking system even as it sought a CBI inquiry into the triple train accident in Odisha. Railway officials indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident. However, opposition parties stepped up pressure for Railway Minister Vaishnaw's resignation, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calling for fixing accountability from top to bottom. The BJP hit back, saying the track record of the Congress-led UPA government's railway ministers was nothing short of a disaster and they should not politicise the issue. We have recommended a CBI probe into the triple train accident, Vaishnaw told reporters in Bhubaneswar on AGENCIES Track restoration work in progress at the accident site involving three trains. Sunday evening. Earlier, Vaishnaw said the “root cause” of the accident and the “criminals” responsible for it have been identified. “It happened due to a change made in the electronic interlocking and point machine,” he told reporters at the site of Friday''s accident in Balasore district. Here in Delhi, top railway officials explained how the point machine and the interlocking system function. They said the system is “error proof” and “fail safe” but did not rule out the possibility of outside intervention. “It is called a fail safe system, so it means that even if it fails, all the signals will turn red and all train operations will stop. Now, as the minister said there was a problem with the signalling system. It could be that someone has done some digging without seeing the cables,” Jaya Verma Sinha of Railway Board, said. NEW DELHI While Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today said the "root cause" of the horrific triple train collision in Odisha's Balasore, has been identified and will be revealed soon in a report, critics have pointed to an audit report of the railways tabled in the Parliament in September last year, which flagged several serious lapses in rail safety. India's top auditing body, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in a 2022 report on derailments in Indian Railways sought to find out whether measures to prevent derailments and collisions were clearly laid down and implemented by the rail ministry. It flagged severe shortfalls in inspections, failure to sub- mit or accept inquiry reports after accidents, not utilising a dedicated railway fund on priority tasks, declining trend in funding track renewal, and inadequate staffing in safety operations as serious concerns. "There were shortfalls ranging from 30-100 per cent in inspections by Track Recording Cars required to assess geometrical and structural conditions of railway tracks," it said. The report also pointed to failures in the Track Management System, which is being widely discussed after the Odisha train crash. "Track Management System (TMS) is a web-based application for online monitoring of track maintenance activities. The in-built monitoring mechanism of the TMS portal was, however, not found to be operational," it said. 10 SPORTS WTC Final: Rahane stands at crossroads in his comeback Test MONSOON MISSES DATE IN KERALA 12 MAPUSA: The onset of Southwest monsoon skipped its date with Kerala on Sunday (June 4) which is expected to have an impact on monsoon arrival over Goa. However, a cyclonic system developing over Southeast Arabian Sea is expected to boost the progress of monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. >> See pg 3
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