The Union Minister of Railways, Shri Lalu Prasad made the following statement regarding train accident at Jallandhar-Pathankot Section in Firozpur Division of Northern Railway on December 14, 2004, in the Lok Sabha today :
"At about 1200 hours on December 14, 2004, 1 JMP DMU (Disel Multiple Unit) Passenger Train going from Jalandhar to Pathankot collided with Train No. 9112 Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad Express. Two coaches of Jalandhar-Pathankot passenger capsized and two coaches of Jammu Tawi Express derailed. Accident occurred between Bhangala and Mirthal Stations which are on Jalandhar-Pathankot Section of Ferozpur Division of Northern Railway. This site is in Hoshiarpur District of Punjab.
On receipt of the information about the train accident, Accident Relief Medical Vans were rushed from Pathankot and Ludhiana. Medical Van from Pathankot reached the site at 1300 hrs. and Medical Van from Ludhiana reached the site on 1450 hours.
After making the statement in Parliament, I alongwith Minister of State for Railways, Chairman, Railway Board and other Senior Officers rushed to the accident site for inspection and visited the Hospitals where injured had been admitted. The Hospital authorities were advised to provide necessary medical assistance on top priority.
The prima-facie cause of the accident appeared to be human failure. Block instruments of both the concerned stations, namely, Bhangala and Mirthal had been out of order from the previous one day. I have directed the Board (Member Electrical) to find out the reasons for the Block failure and fix responsibility of the Staff and Officers for this so that necessary action can be taken against them. In such an eventuality, there are laid down rules for Station Masters to work trains on Paper Line Clear (PLC) system. Under this system, Station Master of the Station from where the train is to be dispatched seeks line clear from the Station Master of the other station by exchanging private number between them. Apparently, these rules were not followed properly by both the Station Masters and the trains from both the sides were allowed to proceed in the block section which resulted in collision.
Commissioner of Railway Safety/Northern Circle is conducted the statutory inquiry into this accident, who will examine the detail reasons for this accident and will give necessary recommendations to avoid such accidents in future.
Details of casualities are as under :
Apart from the above mentioned ex-gratia payment, compensation
of Rs.4 lacs to the kith and kin of deceased and stipulated amount also to the
injured will be paid as per the decision of Railway Claims Tribunal. Employment
to the dependents of those killed and disabled due to this accident will also
be provided. I have come to know that Hon’ble chief Minister of Punjab has also
announced Rs. 1 lac each to the dependents of killed persons.
I have instructed that the injured will be given free treatment by the Railway and after treatment they will be sent to their relatives at the cost of Railway.
Both the Station Masters of the Bhangala and Mirthal Railway Stations have been placed under suspension. FIR has been lodged against both the Station Masters who have been absconding and have not been arrested so far. Local police is in search of them. Concernced Section Engineer (Construction) and Section Engineer (Telecom) have also been placed under suspension.
The line has been restored at 2.30 hours on December 15, 2004 and the first Train passed at 4.10 hours."