ODISHA:

We have heard of a place called “Odisha” for the devastating and chilling train accident on 2nd
June 2023. Three trains, namely Coromandel express, Bengaluru Howrah express collided at
Balasore district leaving a total of 290+ people dead and 1100+ injured. The incident shook the
country and spread worldwide. It has given a global level of impact and response after the 2004
Sri Lanka tsunami train wreck. Though it was an accident, many families are suffering a lot. The
loss of lives cannot be compensated even with crores of money.

What happened?

Before knowing what has happened, let’s know a little more about Main line and loop line. Main
line is a principal rail track between big towns and cities. Loop line is like a branch line that
branches from the trunk line and then rejoins it later on. So, on 2nd June 2023, the Coromandel
express was traveling to Chennai on the up main line at the Bahanaga Bazar railway station.
Another train named Bengaluru Howrah Express was travelling in the opposite direction from
SMVT Bengaluru in Bangalore, Karnataka to Howrah on the adjacent down main line. Both the
trains got the green signal to proceed, considering it as safe.

They were not scheduled to stop at any railway station. All of a sudden, around 7PM, the
coromandel express was wrongly switched and signaled to move to the loop line but that’s
where the Goods train was in stop. Due to the wrong switching and high-speed impact, 21
coaches of the train were derailed from the main line. The derailed coaches of Coromandel
express fell off in the adjacent track and caused a crash in the tail end of Bengaluru Howrah
Express which was crossing the station at the same time. After detaching the damaged coach at
Balasore, the remaining 19 coaches with passengers on board left Balasore at 05.08AM and
continued its journey towards Howrah.

Action taken by the Government:

Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, expressed his distress over the incident and has
given condolences to the grieving families. According to the Odisha Disaster Rapid action force
units, more than 15 fire rescue teams, 100 doctors, 200 police, ambulances, and nurses were
mobilized for the rescue operations. Government of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha issued
helpline numbers. News clipping said the Government of Tamil Nadu sent a high-level
delegation comprising two state ministers and three IAS officers to Odisha to assist the
passengers bound for Chennai and observe the situation. Search dogs were used to find
survivors. We would have seen many viral videos on social media about the number of locals
from nearby cities and villages that have come to the hospital even at night to the hospital to
donate blood.

Compensation to the Victims:

Many chief ministers have come forward to declare the compensations. Both the chief minister
of Odisha Naveen Patnaik and the chief minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin declared a day of
mourning and later announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the kin of those who had died.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that ₹5 lakh in compensation would
be paid to families of West bengal who had been killed, ₹1lakh to those who had been critically
injured and ₹50, 000 to those with minor injuries.

The railways announced that they would pay compensation of ₹10Lakh to families of the
deceased, ₹2lakh to the severely injured and ₹50, 000 to those with minor injuries. Further ex
gratia compensation of ₹2 lakh from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund would be given to
the families of the deceased and ₹50, 000 to the injured.

Investigations:

• It is clear that the coromandel express was moving at a speed of 128kmph and initially
was travelling on the main line. Accidentally or for some unknown reasons, the signal
was taken off and the track was switched to a loop line adjacent to the main line where
the goods train was laden.

• The Coromandel express hit with the goods train and few coaches got derailed.

• While at the same time, The Bengaluru Howrah Express (126 kmph) which was passing
the station in the opposite direction met a crash at its end tail. So, few coaches got
derailed. It is also stated that those five coaches that have been derailed from the
Howrah express saw the most casualties.

The railway authorities stated that the anti-collision system had not yet been deployed on the
track where the collision happened. A December 2022 report on derailment by the Comptroller
and Auditor General of India had warned that lack of adequate staffing in the safety department
by the Indian Railways would impact the quality of maintenance.
On June 4, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav stated that “change in electronic interlocking”,
an error in electronic signals, caused the crash. We can see the clippings daily about the Central
Bureau of investigation of this incident.

Impact:

People lost their lives. Their daughters or sons, their father or mother. Few as an orphan. Many
might have lost their important organs such as legs or hands. A single signal mistake caused this
devastation. A single second mistake killed 250+ people in a moment. When we are responsible
for the work, we must handle everything with care. Accidents are common. But we could have
prevented it if we had checked the things twice regularly. The death toll is high and none of the
compensation can manage it. None of them can get their life back. None of them can get their
loved one back. Everyone must understand the responsibility and act in the right way and be a
good citizen of our Country.