Bangalore, June 26: Defending the Konkan Railway corporation on the recent train accident on the Karwar Mumbai route which claimed 51 lives, railway minister Nitish Kumar today said the stretch where the derailment occured "was not vulnerable". "It (the accident site) was not vulnerable...There was continuous rain and land slides happened," Kumar told reporters here.

KRC technical team had developed engineering solutions in the complex terrain where landslides and boulder falls were a regular feature and used nets and bolts to prevent it, he said.

He dismissed as "not true" reports that KRC was not performing its role in maintaining infrastructure it has built and was more concerned about developing new gadgets.
"In fact they have developed new technologies like the anti-collision device, being installed in the railways, which will help in preventing such accidents," he said.

Kumar said the anti-collision device was the first of its kind in the world.

He said the Skybus project, which KRC had developed to tackle urban transport problems, and a prototype in Madgaon were awaiting inauguration.
Bureau Report