Passenger Train Likely Ignored Red Signal in Fatal Bilaspur Accident: Reports

Bilaspur: The Railway Board has pinpointed signal violation as the primary cause of Tuesday’s deadly collision near Bilaspur station in Chhattisgarh, where a local DEMU passenger train slammed into the rear of a stationary goods train, killing at least six and injuring five.

Preliminary investigations reveal the accident stemmed from the DEMU train "passing signal at danger", railway terminology for overshooting a red stop signal. The passenger train, en route from Gevra (Korba district) to Bilaspur, was travelling at speed when it failed to halt at the signal between Gatora and Bilaspur stations around 4 pm.

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Eyewitness accounts and initial technical assessments suggest the DEMU locomotive did not brake in response to the red signal, directly leading to the high-impact rear-end collision with the goods train ahead on the same track.

A senior railway official explained: “The goods train was either stationary or moving slowly when the DEMU, disregarding the stop signal, rammed into it from behind. This is a classic case of Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD), one of the most serious operational violations in railway safety.”

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The Railway Board’s press note explicitly stated that passing the signal at danger by the DEMU train seems to be the reason in the preliminary assessment.

A full inquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) will examine factors such as whether the signal was functioning correctly or if visibility and response time for the loco pilot were accurate.

The CRS will also investigate for a possible human error, fatigue, or technical malfunction in braking systems.

Until the CRS report, overshooting the red signal remains the confirmed trigger of the tragic incident.