A preliminary investigation into the derailment of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express on Thursday, in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district, has found that improper fastening of the railway track may have been responsible for the accident, reported PTI.

A report of the assessment has been prepared by a five-member panel of Indian Railways officials tasked with looking into the incident.

As of Sunday, the toll from the accident stood at four deaths, with at least 31 others injured.

“The fastening of rail track was not proper due to which fastening was working ineffectively,” the news agency quoted from the panel’s report.

One member of the panel, however, disagreed with this conclusion. They claimed that improper braking by the train’s loco pilot may have led to the derailment.

According to the report, the incident occurred at 2.31 pm when the train’s engine passed a defective spot on the railway track between Motiganj and Jhilahi railway stations.

Subsequently, 19 of the train’s coaches derailed.

At 2.30 pm, the station master at Motiganj was told to implement a caution order restricting trains to a speed of 30 kilometres per hour as they crossed the defective spot.

The Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express was travelling at 80 kilometres per hour as it crossed the improperly fastened railway track.

“When [the defective spot] was detected [at 1.30 pm], the site should have been protected till the caution order was served but it was not done due to which the train derailed,” the panel’s report said. “The engineering department is responsible for it.”

However, the dissenting panel member – representing the engineering department – wrote in the report that this would be an incorrect conclusion.

The official also claimed that his requests for various technical assessments were rejected by the panel. “I completely disagree with the joint note”, he wrote.

The chief public relations officer of the North Eastern Railway Zone, where the accident occurred, said it would be premature to draw any conclusion from the report.

“The investigation by the Commissioner of Railway Safety has already started and the first hearing took place on Friday,” the officer said. “It will go into the details of every aspect of the accident with technical specifications and minute details. Many crucial things don’t come in the joint probe.”

The derailment in Gonda came after a goods train collided with the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express near the New Jalpaiguri railway station in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district on June 17, killing 10 persons.