India train disaster: signal fault blamed as wreckage cleared from track

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India’s railways minister has said the train derailment that killed at least 275 people and injured hundreds more was caused by an error in electronic signals that sent a train on to the wrong tracks.

Ashwini Vaishnaw’s explanation on Sunday came as authorities worked to clear the mangled wreckage of two passenger trains that derailed on Friday night in eastern India, in one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in decades.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported that preliminary investigations revealed that a signal was given to the train to enter the main track line but was later taken off. The train entered another line, known as the loop line, and crashed into a goods train parked there.

“‘Who has done it and what is the reason will come out of an investigation,” Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an interview with New Delhi Television network.

Authorities began clearing the mangled wreckage of the trains from the disaster in the Balasore district of eastern Odisha state.

The death toll, earlier estimated at 288, was revised down on Sunday after it was found that some bodies had been counted twice, according to a statement by a senior Odisha state official. Five more bodies were brought to a school being used as a mortuary near the scene of the accident early on Sunday. “We do not know how many more bodies will come,” a health worker said.

The accident occurred at a time when the prime minister, Narendra Modi, is focusing on the modernisation of the British colonial-era railroad network in India, which has become the world’s most populous country with 1.42 billion people. Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.

Preliminary investigations revealed that a signal was given to the Coromandel Express to enter the main track line but the signal was later taken off. The train entered another line, known as the loop line, and crashed into a goods train parked there, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

When asked about the cause of the accident and preliminary findings, India’s railways minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said: “Let the inquiry report come out. It won’t be appropriate to comment.”

Chaotic scenes erupted on Friday night as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to try to save people who were trapped inside the rail cars.

Modi visited the crash site on Saturday to examine the relief effort and talk to rescue officials. He also visited a hospital where he asked doctors about the treatments being given to the injured, and spoke to some of them.

Modi told reporters he felt the pain of those who suffered in the accident. The government would do its utmost to help them and strictly punish anyone found responsible, he said.

Ten to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell on a nearby track. The debris was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, causing up to three coaches of the second train to also derail, said Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson.

In 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in one of the worst train accidents in India. In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.

Most train accidents in India are blamed on human error or outdated signalling equipment.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, travelling on 64,000km (40,000 miles) of track.