Title - Signal glitch: 8 Railway employees suspended

Eight Railway employees have been placed under suspension by Southern Railway divisional manager Rajesh Agarwal on Tuesday, in connection with the signaling system in the Thampanoor railway station yard going awry on Monday.The malfunctioning of the system left the movement of trains in total disarray and left thousands of commuters stranded for most part of the day. Those who were suspended includes the station master, shunting master and loco shunter. On Monday, the signalling system crashed and most of the incoming trains were held up in various stations up to three hours and up country trains had a delayed start, eventually affecting the entire system for the rest of  the day.The suspension follows the preliminary findings on the cause of the default as being the result of a miscalculation during shunting of the rail rakes during night and early morning. The signal fault was reported on Monday by around 4 am. A rail rake jumped the tracks and crossed two points. Points are denoted as mechanisms to shift a rake from one track to a different one.  With the crossing of two points, fault developed in the signalling system. Had any train passed through the particular points, it would have derailed. There was a possibility for a big disaster itself in the form of ‘trail through’ collisions out of movement of rakes on the wrong tracks. This type of a serious default is being reported in the station here for the first time. Though it was rectified, the mix-up caused a total disarray in the movement of trains.

Meanwhile, shunting staff in the division were up in arms against the suspension. They staged protests alleging that they are being victimised for no fault of theirs. However, Railway officials remained nonchalant stressing that the issue was due to the lapses of the shunting and controlling staff on duty on Monday morning.