FARIDABAD, July 28: Preliminary investigations in the train collision which took place at Old Faridabad station on Sunday indicate that the driver and the assistant of Karnataka (KK) Express, which was running eight hours behind schedule, were either sleeping on the job or rashly trying to make up on lost time.

Senior Railway officials, as per prima facie evidences, confirmed that the driver of the KK Express overshot three red signals resulting in its crashing into the rear of the Himsagar Express.

The Railways have handed over the inquiry into the incident to the Commission of Railways Safety, that comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Pinning the cause on carelessness on duty, Superintendent of Police, Railways (Ambala), R C Joel, said, ``Overlooking of three signals consecutively clearly suggests that the driver and his assistant were not at all concerned with their duty,'' he added.

The mishap occurred at 11 pm on Sunday killed 12 people and 82 were injured, flattening a general bogey of the Himsagar Express and the AC sleeper car between the engine of KK Express and another AC car of Himsagar. Earlier reports put the death toll at 20.

The guard compartment of Himsagar and the engine of KK Express slid past each other, killing the guard of Himsagar, Girish Chand Kulshristha, on the spot.

To avoid some breaches near Malad, the train following the Central Railway route was diverted to the Western Railways after Malad, and this was why the train was eight hours behind schedule, said M Ravindra, Chairman of the Railway Board.

``But the accident was not due to the delay in the running schedule of the train,'' he was quick to point out.

According to Ravindra, KK Express could have been diverted on the third track as it has no stoppage at Faridabad railway station. But the local Railway officials claimed that another train (759 Dn) was being shunted there.

Disrupted traffic on the route would resume here only after midnight, said Ravindra.

The Railways have also announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 15,000 for the dead and Rs 5,000 for the critically injured.

Meanwhile, in the House later in the day, BJP and Congress MPs lambasted Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and the irresponsible functioning of his ministry. Congress members including Ramesh Chennitala, PC Chacko and PJ Kurien demanded his resignation while demanding a judicial inquiry into the accident.

Rajya Sabha, SS Singla (Congress) bemoaned the plummeting standards of the Railways since Paswan became Minister, and alleged that he was not attending to his duties, rather passing the onus on to the Steel Authority Of India Limited (SAIL).

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.