In a startling revelation, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw disclosed that the 'driver' and his 'assistant driver' of one of the trains involved in the tragic collision in Andhra Pradesh were engrossed in watching a cricket match on their phones, leading to the deaths of 14 passengers on October 29, 2023. The collision between the Rayagada Passenger train and the Visakhapatnam Palasa train occurred at around 7 pm along the Howrah-Chennai line in Kantakapalli, Vizianagaram district.

The recent case in Andhra Pradesh happened because both the loco pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the cricket match which was going on. Now we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction and make sure that the pilots and the assistant pilots are fully focussed on running the train.

We will continue to put our focus on safety. We try to find out the root cause of every incident, and we come up with a solution so that it is not repeated," Vaishnaw said as quoted by India Today.

Sue of discrepancies in Indian Railways

Though the official report by the Commissioners of Railway Safety (CRS) remains undisclosed, an initial railway investigation conducted a day after the incident blamed the Loco pilot and co-pilot of the Rayagada Passenger train for the collision.