Unsafe train operations due to signal and telecommunication shortcut methods - railway board alerted 60 days prior to Balasore accident

Precisely 60 days before the Balasore railway accident which took more than 275 lives, the railway board in a letter to all general managers of 19 zones of Indian railways, cited five incidents of the current calendar year, including local train derailment at the crossover in Mumbai, an express train entering into washing area instead of a station, express as well as goods train diverted to wrong track on which another train was already en route from opposite direction — to highlight the short cut methods adopted by signal and telecommunication (S&T) department to resolve signal issues, resulted in unsafe train operations.