'Medha' rake involved in Saturday's mishap comes under scanner

Kolkata: Metro Railway has been asked to provide the

documents and other details requested by Kolkata Police

within three days. Apart from this, Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) Sailesh Garg inspected the 'medha' rake which was involved in the death of Sajal Kanjilal on Saturday.

The CRS has also asked Metro Railway to install a convex mirror at the driving motorman's end of both platforms in all stations as soon as possible, to ensure that the motorman can see the platform and the coach doors clearly before closing the doors and

commencing towards the next station.

According to sources, though the CRS visited the Tollygunge Metro car shed to inspect the rake, the inquiry will commence from Thursday. Garg's team also visited Park Street Metro station and inquired about Saturday's incident. Following the preliminary inspection, Garg stated that necessary steps will be taken.

Apart from the rake which was involved in the incident, the CRS will also inspect the other rakes kept at the Noapara car shed. He will also question the motorman, conducting motorman and chief loco inspector to know whether any fault was detected during the rake's movement.

Sources informed that five 'medha' rakes had arrived in Kolkata from the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) approximately two and a half years ago. But during the trial run, several defects were detected and three of them were returned to ICF with several objections. Questions have risen on why the other two rakes were commissioned without being checked properly.

After Garg's inspection on Monday, it has been decided to suspend the two 'medha' rakes until they get green signal to be commissioned again.

On Saturday, passengers of the rake had alleged that they had tried to contact the motorman using the 'talkback' system and also tried to alert him by pressing the emergency button, neither of which worked reportedly.

The CRS will also investigate whether the said systems worked correctly or if the driver had failed to notice the emergency signal. On the other hand, Kolkata Police has requested Metro Railway to provide the documents within three days along with the CCTV camera footage, which would help the investigation.

On Saturday, Kanjilal died after being dragged through the tunnel between Park Street and Maidan Metro stations, while his hand was stuck between the doors of a rake. As the rake started moving, the victim eventually hit the tunnel wall, fell on the third rail and got electrocuted.