CCTV footage, which shows the exact moment a local train rammed into an express train at the Kacheguda railway station in Hyderabad on Monday, has surfaced. The Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS) train rammed into Kurnool City-Secunderabad Hundry Intercity Express around 10.30 am, which left 16 injured.
The video shows the two trains moving towards each other on the same track, before ramming into each other. The impact of the collision was such that it lifted several bogies of the MMTS trains off the tracks.
The passengers are then seen running out of the derailed train after the accident. SCR officials said six coaches of the MMTS train and three coaches of the Hundry Express were affected.
The Express train, which was approaching Kacheguda Station had significantly slowed down, while the Lingampally-Falaknuma MMTS train, which was on the same track while departing the station, was moving at a considerable speed. The clip shows the MMTS train slowing down just before impact.
Watch the video below.
CCTV footage of the Mmts train collision in Kachiguda. pic.twitter.com/IMLO9Di53U
— Bala (@naartthigan) November 11, 2019
Though technical error in signalling system was initially believed to have caused the accident, South Central Railway officials later ruled out the possibility. They blamed human error for the collision, with preliminary investigation revealing it was the MMTS locopilot’s fault.
According to a South Central Railway official, the MMTS train that was travelling from Lingampally to Falaknuma was on Platform 2 of Kacheguda Station. Per the schedule, once the Hundry Express (from Secunderabad to Kurnool) reached the station, it would be taken on Platform 4 and then the MMTS train would be given the signal to depart. The Hundry Express train was given the signal and was entering the station. However, the loco pilot of the MMTS train also started moving, although it was given the signal, the official said.
Loco pilot L Chandrasekhar, who was driving the Lingampally-Falaknuma MMTS train, was trapped in the driver's cabin after the train collided. After eight hours of gruelling efforts, rescue workers finally pulled out the loco pilot alive from the mangled motorman cabin of the MMTS train on Monday evening.
Personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Accident Relief Team of the South Central Railway (SCR) cut through the cabin with the help of gas cutters to rescue 31-year-old Chandrasekhar, who was later shifted to hospital.
Medical teams were supplying the loco pilot oxygen and saline to ensure that he would not fall unconscious.
Doctors at the government-run Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad said 16 injured were brought to the hospital and six of them were discharged.
A high level inquiry has been ordered into the accident.
(With IANS inputs)