Committee to probe Kalutara train mishap

Rasika Somarathna

COLOMBO: A committee was appointed to investigate into the Kalutara train collision yesterday by Railways General Manager K.A. Pemasiri. A power set crashed into another train yesterday at Kalutara-South station injuring more than fifty passengers and causing damages estimated at over Rs.50 million to the Department.

Speculation was rife that the mishap was the result of signal officers' negligence. The GM however said it was too early to comment on the issue since the investigations were now on to ascertain the reason.

The Committee Chairman is the Transportation Superintendent of the Department. Other members are deputy heads of all the sub-departments. They have been entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out a comprehensive investigation to determine the cause for the accident and find out whether there was any negligence of duty resulting in the accident.

The Committee has been appointed in accordance with the Department's guidelines following an accident of this kind. The Committee will come up with proposals to prevent such disasters from occurring in the future.