Andhra Pradesh Train Crash: No Evidence of Loco Pilots Watching Cricket During Accident

The investigation into last year's fatal collision of two passenger trains in Andhra Pradesh's Vizianagaram district, which claimed 17 lives and injured 34, has found no evidence suggesting that the train's locomotive pilots were watching cricket at the time of the incident.

In March of this year, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted that both the locomotive pilot and co-pilot were diverted by a cricket match transpiring at the time.

According to sources within the East Coast Railway, an examination of the data usage on the mobile phones belonging to Loco Pilot S.M.S Rao and Assistant Loco Pilot S. Chiranjeevi, both of whom tragically perished in the incident, revealed no indication of cricket viewing. The analysis was conducted by the Senior Divisional Signal and Telecommunications Engineer and the Divisional Safety Officer of the Waltair Division. Furthermore, Commissioner of Railway Safety Pranjeev Saxena, who conducted a thorough inquiry into the accident, did not reference any cricket-watching by the locomotive pilots in his report, The Hindu reported.

In addition to the two locomotive pilots, the train manager or guard of the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger also lost their life in the collision with the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger on October 29, 2023. The inquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) determined that an "error in train working" was the cause of the accident, holding the train crew and operating staff accountable for the crash, among others.

On March 3, however, the Railway Minister told a news agency in New Delhi that “both the loco pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the cricket match which was going on. Now we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction and make sure that the pilots and the assistant pilots are fully focussed on running the train.” However, the sources said that there is no evidence to confirm  Vaishnaw’s charge.

Following Vaishnaw's statement, the Railways implemented a ban on the use of Bluetooth headphones by crew members during duty hours. In a circular dated March 19, the Southern Railway cited the accident, stating that preliminary investigations indicated the crew of Train No. 08504 Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger had disregarded signal protocols, leading to the collision.