Balasore, Jun 4 (IANS): Congress Leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday visited Odisha's Balasore, where the horrific train accident took place and thanked the NDRF, ODRF, administration and locals for the rescue and relief operations, and also attacked the government saying "if such kind of readiness would have been shown before accident then such a tragedy would not have taken place".

Chowdhury, who is a former Minister of State of Railways, along with party leader A. Chella Kumar, reached Bahanaga Bazar Railway station where the horrific train accident took place on Friday evening in which 21 coaches of Coromandel Express and SMVP-Howrah Superfast Express derailed leading to death of 288 passengers and leaving over 1,000 injured.

Speaking to the media here, Chowdhury thanked the armed forces, NDRF, ODRAF, local administration, people and volunteers for taking care of the rescue and relief operations.

Attacking the government, the Congress leader said, "All these arrangements are being made after the incident. I am not saying that efforts are not being made but all this is being done after the incident."

"If this kind of readiness would have been shown before the incident, something like this would not have happened," Chowdhury added.

Chowdhury and Kumar were deputed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday to visit the accident site and take stock of the situation.

Earlier in the day, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who has been camping at the accident site since Saturday said that the root cause of the accident has been identified during the inquiry by the Commissioner of Rail Safety.

He said that as per the instruction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who inspected the accident site on Saturday, restoration work was going on in full swing.

In a statement, South Eastern Railway (SER) said all 21 coaches which capsized and derailed have been grounded. Now the site is being cleared from bogie/wheel sets and other components.