Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said that the tragic train accident in Odisha’s Balasore occurred due to a “change in electronic interlocking”. Electronic interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements between trains through an arrangement of tracks. It is basically a safety measure to prevent signals from being changed in improper sequence. The aim of this system is that no train gets the signal to proceed unless the route is proven safe. Ashwini Vaihsnaw said, “This is a different issue. It is about point machine, electronic interlocking. The change that occurred during electronic interlocking, the accident happened due to that. Whoever did it and how it happened will be found out after proper investigation.”
