Kadalundi tragedy

Sir, - Your Editorials and the news reports on the Kadalundi train accident have raised a number of points.

I fully share your apprehension that the reason for the Kadalundi tragedy should not be ascribed to another `tornado' that reportedly toppled the Island Express near Quilon some 10 years ago. The reason for invoking such an `act of God' at that time was very clear. The field staff and their unions in Trivandrum Railway division virtually threatened the authorities that all hell would break loose if they were blamed in the inquiry. Much later when I asked top Railway officials why they accepted such a finding, they just grinned away the question.

The Enquiry Commissioner should try to find out if the gangmen who were supposed to inspect the track periodically had actually done so before Mangalore Mail passed the Kadalundi bridge; what exactly had the engineering staff of Palakkad Railway Division, who had inspected the bridge two days prior to the accident, recommended; were those recommendations acted upon; if not why. Most importantly was there any attempt at cover-up immediately after the accident and before the Railway Minister visited the spot? Was he given facts or was he also warned against `antagonising' the field staff by speaking out the truth?

I recall the `confession' by a senior Railway official a few years ago that immediately after an accident, the first task of the official concerned is to see that evidence of negligence, if any, by the staff is covered up and evidence is created to suggest `sabotage'.

A detailed probe by an independent body is called for.

V. Krishnamoorthy,

Srirangam, T.N.

Sir, - Your Editorial expression that the ``tragic plunge'' by the Mangalore-Chennai Mail into the Kadalundi river in Kerala ``should not remain yet another piece of railway statistic'' mirrors the view of all who love to travel by train. Successive train disasters prove that ``safety'' is the least and the last priority of the Railways. Every Railway Minister tries his level best to add his/her list of new trains to the already saturated trunk routes (of course, serving the needs of their home States in the process).

The Railways should announce a freeze on introducing new services on the saturated routes and allocate funds thus saved on maintenance and repair of rolling stock and track. Instead of boasting that coaches manufactured at ICF are exported to third world countries, the Railways should ensure that all aged and aging coaches at home are off the track. A classic case of derailment due to poor maintenance of track can be noticed in the derailment of the Chennai-Hyderabad Charminar superfast express as many as half-a-dozen times in recent months in the Gudur- Chennai section.

B. V. Kumar,

Nellore

Sir, - The demand for a judicial inquiry into the train tragedy at Kadalundi, as against the statutory inquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety now ordered by the Minister for Railways, seems just.

According to a report, of the first ten major train accidents in the country, in each of which the toll exceeded 100, six happened on account of the bogies derailing over the bridges and capsizing in the waters.

Gruesome accidents, particularly over bridges, are an eloquent testimony to lack of proper inspection by the engineering wing of the Railways.

K.Sathyadevan,

Coimbatore

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