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Telwatte disaster: Lessons to be learnt
By Nalaka Nonis
The Transport Ministry is studying the recommendations made by the three-member committee appointed to investigate the tsunami train disaster at Telwatte, Minister A.H.M. Fowzie said.

He told The Sunday Times that his Ministry is studying how to implement the recommendations of the committee including that of compensation for those who died and were injured in the tragedy.

He said he hopes to implement the recommendations on a short, medium and long term basis. The committee has recommended that the Railway Department should take immediate steps to provide facilities to Railway personnel throughout the country to contact organisations which monitor disasters such as a tsunami and receive advance information and assistance in this type of sudden emergency.

The committee has also strongly recommended that “the Ministry of Transport and Railway consider favourably the question of making some payment in form of compensation for those passengers who travelled in the ill-fated train and sustained injuries, and to the dependants of those passengers who had to sacrifice their lives on this fateful day as a result of this tragic accident”.
The committee has recommended that a central contingency plan be drawn up to meet this type of situation in the future. It says that such plan should be made available at district and station levels which should also include pre-disaster and post-disaster preparedness.

Another recommendation of the committee is that the station masters in charge of railway stations should be directed to co-ordinate with the local bodies of their areas like local police, hospitals and other suitable institutions of the area and be in readiness for such emergencies.

The committee has noted that the tragedy could have been averted if not for technical and human failure. It has observed that the new NMA signalling system provided by the Netherlands had not been fully operational and had therefore failed to provide the reversing of signals from the Trains Control office while the Trains Controller had also failed to communicate with the train crew.

The committee was also of the opinion that station staff at the Ambalangoda station on the morning of December 26, 2004, more particularly the Station Master Ambalangoda, the Station Master (Operating) and the Station Master (Booking) failed to answer the call of the Coast Line controller for the purpose of preventing the train from departing from the Ambalangoda station and this had also contributed to the tragedy.

The damage to locomotive and rolling stock because of the accident has been estimated in the report at approximately Rs.70 million. Eighty people had given evidence before the committee which commenced sittings in August 2005.

The committee comprised retired Supreme Court judge Priyantha R P Perera, retired Appeal Court judge Chandradasa Nanayakkara and a retired Additional Manager (Operations) of the railway, T.D. Jayasundera.

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