Utkal Express Derailment: Gross negligence by Khatauli station authorities resulted in tragedy, says ADG Railways

Derailment of Utkal Express near Khatauli Railway Station in Muzaffaranagar on Saturday in which 24 passengers were killed and hundreds of others were injured seems to be ‘Railway-made’ tragedy.

Sources at Khatauli Raliway station claimed the track was under repair and despite that the railways authorities did not caution the driver of the Utkal Express to slow down while passing the under repair track. The train was going at a speed of 105 kmph when derailment took place. Utkal Express has no stoppage at Khatauli Railway Station so it was on full throttle not knowing what was waiting ahead.

Significantly, the Railways has already approved a proposal to change about 200 metre track near Khatauli Railways station since it was chipped out and uprooted at many places. However, the work was yet to be executed. So the repair work was on and trains on this track were allowed to pass on slower speed.

The Additional Director General Railways B.K. Muarya told mediapersons that there could be two possibilities. “Either the train driver overlooked the caution board to slow its speed while passing the under repair track or Railway authorities did not put up any caution board at all. In case of the second …read more