Safety at stake

There are many unanswered questions on what exactly led to a deadly multiple train collision in India on Friday evening that killed at least 288 people and injured more than 800.Two express passenger trains and a freight train were involved in a “three-way accident” near a small station in eastern state of Odisha, according to reports. One of them collided with the stationary freight train, and its coaches flipped over to a third track, causing an incoming train to derail. A preliminary report indicates that the accident was the result of signal failure. Railway minister has suggested a signal fault led to the Odisha rail disaster, with a “change in electronic interlocking” the likely cause.Ashwini Vaishnaw later said the cause and people responsible for the deadly three-train crash in eastern India had been identified but did not elaborate. Railway Board said there had been “some kind of signalling interference” rather than failure. People found guilty over a deadly rail accident in eastern India will be “punished stringently”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. Modi has visited the scene, labelling the incident a “painful” one.He also met victims of the disaster in hospital, and vowed that his government would leave “no stone unturned for the treatment of those injured”.