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| Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
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GMR contests Observer report Sri Lanka Railways General Manager Priyal de Silva has sent us the following statement with reference to our news item "World's worse train disaster at Peraliya, GMR could have saved train" which appeared last Sunday. "Nimal Fernando appears to be saying that the General Manager could have averted the tsunami train disaster at Peraliya had he given prompt orders through the central train control system. He is wrong to have presumed that I as General Manager, and my officers, had not done that. This was a Sunday and a Poya Day, and I was recovering after a cataract operation done two days before. Nevertheless, all stations were advised to stop all trains wherever they were, no sooner I was informed about the situation, (i.e. between 0915 hrs-0920 hrs), even before I personally arrived at the Control Room, (i.e. at 10.10 hrs). In the meantime the Train Controllers acted swiftly saving six trains which were on the move towards disaster-hit areas. It was unfortunate that the Controller's message was received by Ambalangoda station only seconds after the departure of the tsunami hit train, which had left almost exactly on time, on that fateful day. Message could not be transmitted because the NMA signalling system, which is in operation in this area since 1999, has no emergency communication system between the Control Room and the railway stations, other than the public phone. Had the age old semaphore signalling and communication system been in operation the emergency belling system could have been used to alert the station staff of an impending emergency, which facility had unfortunately been left out when designing and installing the new system, with which Nimal Fernando himself was associated during its design and negotiation phase. This train left Ambalangoda at 0920 hrs, running express, passed Kahawe at 0928 hrs, and was hit by the tsunami waves around 0935 hrs. At this time I was on my way to the Control Room and any person with even a little common sense will realise the effort made by the departmental staff and myself to avert this tragedy. "Fernando also appeared to have said that the guards and drivers had been provided with radio phone communication systems. He may not be aware of the fact that all those facilities had been withdrawn long ago due to technical malfunctioning. The Railway Department is working within tight budgets and the funds made available are being used for only urgently required purposes. Not only a tsunami disaster, but many other calamities could happen to a moving train without the knowledge of the stations or the Control Room. This was why we have been persistently requesting for funds to install a good communication system to SLR, which has not yet been approved. "May I say that the situation with regard to communications is still the same, eight months after tsunami, and the same shortcomings in communication or the impossibility of giving direct and timely advice to the train crew which may recur even tomorrow with tragic results. The railway department, its staff and the General Manager will surely act as best as they could within the technical facilities available at any such event, but it is unfair for anyone to expect miracles from them. "It is also unfair that the author of the article accuses the Railway Department and me for not acting swiftly to save the passengers. SLR is not equipped with rescue operations or disaster management facilities. Immediately after the incident, I took necessary steps to call the security forces, the police and requested for relief operations, which they themselves were unable to gear themselves at that moment. I requested the Station Masters of the nearby stations to personally visit the site, and they reported back saying that they had been prevented from doing so by the police and the security forces. I personally went down to reach the site, but was unable to go beyond Kalutara. Action was taken to hold a departmental inquiry, the report of which has been forwarded within a short space of time to the Ministry. I hope the facts will come to light during the present inquiry, and I have also requested that I be given an opportunity to give evidence in front of the Commission in this regard. Editors Note: The Sunday Observer regrets its inability to contact the
Sri Lanka Railways General Manager prior to publication of its report last
Sunday, and extends its apologies to him if the report has caused him pain
of mind. |
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