Failure to timely detect flaws in rail caused North-East Express derailment in Oct 2023: CRS probe

At least four people were killed and several others were injured in the accident in Bihar's Buxar district.

The failure to promptly detect the flaws in the rail caused the derailment of the North-East Express at Raghunathpur Station in Danapur Division of East Central Railway on October 11, 2023, according to a final investigation report.

At least four people were killed and several others were injured in the accident in Bihar’s Buxar district. The report was submitted by Suvomoy Mitra, the then Commissioner of Railway Safety (Eastern Circle). ”Stricker monitoring should be exercised in controlling the various processes involved in manufacture of rails. Railway may consider exploring possibilities of Real Time Monitoring of the health of track, one of the recommendations of the report recently submitted to the Railway Board,” it added.

The Railways in its action taken report said that continuous improvement and upgradation are being done by it and the rail manufacturing plant of SAIL/Bhilai for ensuring better quality of steel making and rail rolling. It mentioned several steps taken to improve the chemical and metallurgical properties of rails too. Regarding proper monitoring of track health, it said that various modules in the Track Management System (TMS) are operational. ”These include monitoring of USFD (Ultrasonic Flaw Detection) testing of rails and welds.

USFD operators regularly feed the USFD testing data of rail and weld during daily USFD testing on TMS,” the Railways said. ”These USFD testing data are monitored regularly at all concerned levels for necessary maintenance,” it added. Addressing the concern of the CRS for real-time monitoring of the health of tracks, the Railways said that three technologies are under trial for broken rail detection systems in various zonal railways. These are the Continuous Broken Rail Detection System (NGRT), which is under trial in North Eastern Railway, Acoustic Domain Technology Rail Acoustic, which is undergoing testing in North Central Railway and Vibration Energy-based Broken Rail Detection System whose trial is in progress in North Central Railway.

The CRS has further recommended that proper mechanisms should be available with the Railways for the identification of fatigue cracks developed in rails. The Railways has said that it has come up with a new technology known as Phased Array Ultrasonic Single Rail Tester (PAUT SRT) and Zonal Railways/ PSUs have been advised for the adoption of this new method for rails testing. Commenting on the condition of the engine and coaches, the CRS said that the locomotives and coaches of all running trains should be closely examined and defective rolling stock should not be permitted, more so in Mail Express Trains with high speed.

"Records of maintenance of Coaches and Loco may be computerized similar to what has been done for Track Monitoring System (TMS) so that the data can be readily accessed for analysis and scrutiny,” the probe body said. In response, the Railways said that they already have a laid-down procedure to regularly examine all coaches. The CRS also advised the Railways to consider installing a Cab Voice Recorder in the Loco to record the conversation between the crew during/just before any accident. ”Crew Voice and Video Recording System (CVVRS) is installed in 479 locomotives and is under implementation by CRIS in all locomotives,” the ministry said in its response.

The CRS emphasised on the need for formal training or guidelines for videography and photography of the accident site, including drone camera of locomotive, coaches and track. The Railway Ministry said that guidelines for videography and photography at the accident site have already been issued by various orders.