Exclusive-India rail crash probe is focusing on manual bypass of track signal

FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows derailed coaches after trains collided in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, India, June 3, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

BAHANAGA, India/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An official probe into India's rail crash is focusing on suspected manual bypassing of an automated signalling system that guides train movement - an action investigators believe sent a packed express train into a stationary freight train, three Indian Railways sources told Reuters.

The Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) investigators suspect the bypass was done by railway workers to get around signalling hurdles that arose from a malfunctioning barrier used to stop road traffic at a nearby rail-road intersection, two of the three sources said.