Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express crew suspended for violating speed restriction in Mathura

The Agra Rail Division has suspended the crew of the Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express for violating a speed restriction of 20 kmph in Mathura section and putting the passengers’ lives at risk.

The railways imposes speed restrictions for safe operation of the trains for various reasons such as track condition, ongoing track repair work, old railway bridges, station yard remodelling etc.

The suspension was done on July 21.

“Disciplinary action has been taken against the crew and they have been suspended on the spot,” Prashasti Srivastava, PRO, Agra Division, which comes under the North Central Railway Zone, told PTI on Friday.

“Both the loco pilot and the assistant loco pilot forgot to obey the speed restriction of 20 kmph while crossing Mathura and oversped, which amounts to serious violation of railway norms as it can cause an accident,” a railway official from Mathura said.

This is the third reported incident in the past two months in the Agra Division in which the crew of an express train violated the speed restriction.

“There seems to be something wrong with the loco pilots of the Agra Division under which Mathura section falls. It looks like they are under stress due to some reason.

“The Railway Board should take the matter very seriously and send a probe team to look into it before it gets too late and some untoward incident takes place,” a railway official requesting anonymity said.

Earlier in May 2024, the drivers of Gatiman Express and Malwa Express were suspended along with their assistants for running their trains at 120 kmph in a section in Agra Division where the cautionary speed limit was restricted at 20 kmph.

According to Railways, before boarding the engine, the loco pilots and their assistants obtain a complete route chart along with advisories and cautionary speed limits from the concerned operating department and they are supposed to maintain the speed accordingly.

Railway officials said the assistant driver calls out these advisories loudly and cautions while the driver repeats them to confirm. It is very surprising how both of them missed out on it.

After the Gatiman and Malwa incidents, the Railway Board set up a committee also to find out the reasons for the violation of speed restrictions by train drivers at various points between origin and destination.

The committee, in its first virtual meeting, interacted with over 180 loco pilots and loco inspectors through video conference to understand the issues related to the caution orders at the field level.

The participants came out with a lot of suggestions. While some drivers wanted the caution order to be given on bold letters with bigger font size on A4 size white paper, others said the drivers should be issued different colour highlighters to mark the restrictions for their convenience.

The participants also said it was also discussed in the meeting whether permanent speed restriction (PSR) should also be made a part of the caution order.

Normally only temporary caution orders are given to the drivers on a paper sheet but a suggestion was made that PSR should also be mentioned.

Railway sources said it was decided that the committee would look into all suggestions and deliberate upon other means to decide if there was a need to amend the operation norms concerning speed restrictions in the interest of safe train operations.