Bangalore: Defending the Konkan Railway Corporation on the recent rail accident on the Karwar- Mumbai route which claimed 51 lives, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar on June 26 said the stretch where the accident occurred "was not vulnerable".

"It (the accident site) was not vulnerable...there was continuous rain and landslides happened," Kumar told reporters.

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

Dismissing reports that KRC was not performing its role in maintaining the infrastructure it has built and was more concerned about developing new gadgets, Kumar said, "It is not true."

"In fact they have developed new technologies like the anti-collision device which is being installed in the Railways, which will help in preventing such accidents," he said.

Kumar said the anti-collision device is the first such in the world.

He said the Skybus project which it had developed was to tackle urban transport problems and a prototype in Madgaon was awaiting inaugural.

PTI