Mystery of the Kavaraipettai Train Accident: Investigation Launched into Safety Breach

A day after the train accident at Kavaraipettai, located 40 kilometers from Chennai, AM Chowdhary, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) for the Southern Circle, arrived at the site to begin a thorough investigation.

According to officials, the Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express received a green signal to continue on the main line toward Gudur at around 8:30 PM on Friday.

However, the train mistakenly entered the loop line at Kavaraipettai station, where a freight train was parked.

Investigators are trying to find out why the train went onto the loop line when the signal said it should stay on the main line. They are also checking if human error played a part.

The CRS looked at important safety areas like tracks, trains, signals, and control panels.

Chowdhary talked to over 30 railway workers, including the drivers of the Bagmati Express, the motorman and train manager of a nearby train, as well as station masters and engineers from the area.

The Korukkupet railway police have started an investigation after M. Muni Prasand Babu, the station master at Kavaraipettai, filed a complaint.

Other groups, like the NIA, RPF, and Tamil Nadu State Police, are also looking into the accident. They think that some railway signals or switches might have been messed with.

There are concerns because some bolts were found open and some nuts were missing at the accident site. This raises questions about possible outside interference. Recently, there was also a case of tampering at Ponneri station that the police are investigating.

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) is looking into all possible reasons for the accident and will share their early findings in about 10 to 15 days.

R. Baskaran, a retired Principal Chief Signal and Telecom Engineer from Southern Railway, said that data from the Kavaraipettai station's data logger shows the collision probably wasn't due to a signal failure.

He explained that the signal was set for the Bagmati Express to go straight on the main line, which suggests that something like a derailment or another problem caused the train to move onto the loop line instead.

Another retired official remarked that the data logger indicates the Bagmati Express was occupying both the main and loop lines simultaneously, a rare occurrence known as "Two-roading," possibly due to a track fault.

In a show of community spirit, residents of Kavaraipettai stepped in to assist stranded passengers, helping transport them from the station to the highway on bikes.