Bengaluru: “Boulders or Stones on the tracks could have caused the accident of the Bengaluru-Ernakulam Intercity Express on Friday morning”, said sources in the railways.

Moreover several people also blamed it on the stones. However the loco-pilot A.T. Fernandes has said there were no stones on the tracks.

Regular checks are carried out to spot defects in the tracks and fix them before trains go on them. A track defect means there could be a crack in the track or a difference in “track gauge” where the space between the tracks changes, he said.

According to railway sources, the train was not overspeeding since the maximum speed for that stretch is 80 kmphr and the train was going at 75 kmphr. He said, “They were within the allowed speed limit”.

 He also said that there was no issue of the locopilots being unfamiliar with the terrain. Fernandes, the locopilot and Subrahmanya, the assistant locopilot, are known as experienced hands and are thought of as having “a track record of safe piloting”.

Meanwhile, Chief Commissioner for Railway Safety S.K. Mittal also said that the locopilot has informed him that he had experienced a jerk and he had to apply emergency brakes.

Mr. Mittal said that he would be examining the engine speed recorder to ascertain if train was overspeeding.

Earlier Reports