Islampur, Feb. 25: Four-and-a-half years after death struck at express speed, the subdivisional judicial magistrate’s court today began hearing the Gaisal train accident case on the basis of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s report which has identified staff failure and faulty signalling equipment as the causes of the tragedy.

Around 287 people died and several others were injured in the collision between the Dibrugarh-Delhi Brahmaputra Mail and Delhi-Guwahati-Avadh Assam Express on August 1, 1999. Both trains had been signalled onto the same track.

A 500-page chargesheet had been submitted to the court in 2001. The report did not mention any possibility of sabotage.

The CBI had framed a chargesheet against eight railway personnel, including the assistant stationmaster of Gaisal and the guard and cabin-man of the Avadh Assam Express.

Court sources said the hearing would continue for a month. Summons have been issued against the accused, asking them to appear before the court. Two of the accused, however, died recently.

The final report of the chief commissioner of railway safety, A.K. Sengupta, blaming the “failure of railway staff and multiple flaws in the system of work in the Katihar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway was placed in Parliament on May 15, 2000.

The report stated that the accumulation of neglect over the years could have degraded the system to an extent where such a major accident was to be expected.

The commission of inquiry found 35 railway officials responsible for the accident. It had also pointed out signal failures, discrepancy in the signalling diagram and lacunae in rosters.

The commission had also found ground staff “ignorant” of rules and procedures for running trains. “A few assistant station masters examined were unaware of several provisions in the rule books,” it had remarked.

The report also stated that signalling equipment needs to be replaced at 1,560 railway stations.