After April 15 mishap at Matunga, CR to replace long hood locomotives with short ones
Three coaches of Dadar-Puducherry Express (11005) had derailed near Matunga station in Mumbai on April 15
Rattled by the accident in Matunga possibly due to visibility issues leading to a signal breach, Central Railway has decided to completely discontinue the use of long hood leading locomotives in all passenger trains. Henceforth, only locomotives of different variants, with leading cabs would be used.
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Three coaches of Dadar-Puducherry Express (11005) had derailed near Matunga station in Mumbai on April 15 after the engine of the CSMT-Gadag Express, going in the same direction, dashed it sideways. The accident happened at 9.45 pm between Dadar and Matunga.
The long hood diesel locomotive is, as the name implies, the longer part of the locomotive ahead of the driving cab, particularly ALCo-class locomotives, which partially blocks the view ahead. The ALCo (American Locomotive Company) engine design is more than 55 years’ old and was produced by Banaras Locomotive Works in Varanasi under licence.
Though a final accident inquiry report is to be completed, prima facie it was observed that the locomotive was running in Long Hood Forward (LHF) mode and drivers of the train involved in the accident were unable to see the aspect of the train properly due to the long hood. Moreover, there was a lack of proper communication and clarity between the loco pilot and the assistant loco pilot.
“It is pertinent to note that on ALCo diesel locomotives, working is a bit difficult for the crew, with signal aspect, because of visibility especially with long hood; hence it has been decided that all diesel loco haul coaching trains will run with dual cab WDP4D class engines or ALCo Multi Unit (short hood leading engines). No single passenger train will run with long hood leading,” a notification from Central Railway’s operations office on Wednesday stated.
Earlier, too, loco pilots had said there is a visibility problem and it is difficult to drive such locomotives, which have been criticised for their extremely long hoods, obscuring visibility.
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