The Indian Railways Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, pointed this Sunday to the electronic interlocking or automatic signaling system as responsible for the crash of three trains that left 288 dead and almost 900 injured in the east of the country, the worst railway accident of the 21st century. in the Asian giant.
"The problem is related to the electronic interlock," Vaishnaw told the Indian news agency ANI.
"The cause of the accident has been identified and the people responsible have also been identified. Right now our efforts are focusing on the restoration" of the railway lines, the minister added, without providing further details about what happened.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, said yesterday from the scene that the culprits would be harshly punished.
At least 288 people were killed and nearly 900 injured in the accident, which took place at 7:20 p.m. local time (1:50 p.m. GMT) on Friday in the Balasore district when a passenger train derailed, followed by a second train colliding with it. A third freight train was also involved in the accident.
Once the search and rescue work for possible survivors was completed yesterday, and after removing the bodies from the area, the authorities continue to focus on restoring rail traffic at the accident site.
"The 21 carriages that overturned and derailed have been removed. The area is now being cleared of axles, wheels and other components," the south-eastern division of Indian Railways said in a statement.
Authorities announced compensation of more than $12,000 for those killed, about $2,500 for the seriously injured and $606 for those with minor injuries.
For their part, opposition formations such as the historic Congress Party (INC) have demanded the resignation of the Minister of Railways and pointed out the lack of budget for the maintenance of the tracks while the Indian government seeks to modernize the network with trains of medium high speed
This is the worst rail accident to hit India in the 21st century, after the August 1999 crash of two trains in the northeastern state of West Bengal also left 288 dead. Some 800 people died in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge and plunged into a river in the northern state of Bihar.
The Indian railway network is, with a length of 68,000 kilometers, the fourth in length in the world, behind the United States, Russia and China, it has some 21,650 trains and 7,349 stations throughout the country, and transports some 23 million passengers daily. passengers.
