Utkal Express derailed, so has the Northern Railways Department.

After the derailment of Utkal Express in Khatauli, where 22 people died, the government took swift action and suspended four railway officials. The announcement was made by Neeraj Sharma, CPRO, Northern Railways, who addressed the media on Sunday evening. 

The action was taken after an internal inspection report was sent to the Ministry. The report had stated that the Permanent Ways Department under the Civil Engineering Department was responsible for the derailment.

The Junior Engineer and Senior Section Engineer (Permanent Way) have been suspended and the Chief Track Engineer, Northern Railway has been transferred. Divisional Railway Manager (Delhi), Member Engineering (Railway Board) also sent on leave over the derailment and Railways Northern Railway General Manager, R N Kulshrestha, have been sent on leave.

The damage assessment report has put the cost of damage to carriage and wagons at Rs 3 crore, the pathway at Rs 1.25 lakh, signals and telecom at Rs 1.2 lakh. Four masts of the overhead electrical line also need to be replaced, the report stated.

Restoration work is currently underway at the site of the accident. Fourteen bogies of the Puri-Haridwar-Kalinga Utkal Express derailed at Muzaffarnagar’s Khatauli station, killing 22 people and injuring over 100 others.

Though there are strict laws and procedures on maintenance, it has been revealed that the railway staff present at the Khatauli Railway station control room had not been informed of any maintenance or repair work of the railway tracks.

“We had no information about the ongoing maintenance or repair work ahead of the station. Had we known that tracks are undergoing repair, we would have never allowed the Utkal Express to go through. Routinely, there are a number of trains are made to wait for hours till they get a clear signal to pass through,” stated Rajendra Singh, Khatauli Station Superintendent.

An audio clip doing the rounds of social media of a conversation between a railway gang man and a repair worker has caught the attention of the investigative authorities. While the authenticity of the audio clip has not been ascertained yet, but the conversation between the two took place after the accident and it reveals laxity on part of the administration.