Odisha Train Accident: CBI seals Bahanaga Bazar railway station for investigation

No trains will halt at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing the triple-train crash sealed the station, a railway official told PTI news agency on Saturday. The train accident involving two passenger trains and a goods train took place on June 2 near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore district. As many as 288 people were killed and more than 1,200 were injured.South Eastern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer, Aditya Kumar Chaudhary said the CBI sealed the station and also seized the log book, relay panel and other equipment. "The relay interlocking panel has been sealed prohibiting access of the staff to the signalling system, no passenger or goods train would stop at Bahanaga Bazar till further notice," he added. 

After restoration of both the up and down line, at least seven trains (mostly local) were halting at Bahanaga Bazar station. Around 170 trains pass through the Bahanaga Bazar railway station every day but only passenger trains like Bhadrak-Balasore MEMU, Howrah Bhadrak Baghajatin Fast Passenger and Kharagpur Khurda road fast passenger used to stop at the station for a minute. A 10-member CBI team on Tuesday visited the triple train accident site at Bahanaga and registered an FIR in connection with the tragedy and took over all the probe filed from the Government Railway Police. The team began investigating allegations of criminal negligence leading to the Balasore railway accident involving three trains - Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, Howrah-bound Shalimar Express and a goods train. A top police officer, who was overseeing the rescue operation, said: "While several bodies were disfigured beyond recognition, more than 40 bodies had no visible injury marks or bleeding from anywhere. Many of these deaths were due to electrocution.