Janjivan Bureau /Amritsar : Hours after 60 hapless Dussehra revellers were mowed down by a train here, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani on Saturday dismissed the railways’ responsibility in the tragedy.
Lohani said the Jalandhar-Amritsar Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) passenger train was running at its assigned speed and its loco-pilot applied brakes to slow it down.
“Trains run at their assigned speed and people are not expected to go on the tracks. It was a clear case of trespassing.
“There was no intimation to the railways regarding this (Dussehra) event adjoining the railway track,” Lohani told reporters here.
The accident happened near Dhobi Ghat on Friday evening when the people had come to see the burning of the Ravan effigy.
Lohani said the accident site fell under the “mid-section of the two stations” where the trains run at their “assigned speed” as per the condition of the track.
“The place where the accident happened was basically mid-section between two stations–Mananwala and Amritsar and not at a level crossing,” the Railway Board chairman said.
According to a senior railway official, the incident happened some 340 metres from an interlocked level crossing of the railways.
Lohani also said that the railway posted its staff at the manned level crossing to regulate the road traffic and nod at the mid-sections of the railway track between two stations.
When asked about the responsibility of the loco-pilot, Lohani said, “Our initial report suggests that the loco-pilot applied the brakes and the speed came down from 90 kmph to around 60-65 kmph. We are still looking at the seepdometer charts,” Lohani said.
He also cautioned the general public not to trespass. “Railways regularly carries out campaign to build awareness among people to not jaywalk on tracks.”
On Friday, a 700-strong crowd watching a huge Ravan effigy go up in flames amid exploding crackers spilled on to the tracks at Jora Phatak when the Jalandhar-Amritsar DMU passenger train heading to Hoshiarpur from Amritsar came hurtling down around 7 pm.
Most people reportedly could not hear the hooting of the train due to the exploding crackers.
In just 10-15 seconds it left behind a heap of crushed and dismembered bodies.
