Sabotage was the main cause behind the Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express derailment, which claimed 108 lives, in Aurangabad district of Bihar last September, Commissioner of Railway Safety, Eastern Circle, Mahesh Chand said in New Delhi on Saturday.

Rajdhani mishap: The complete coverage

The train had derailed on a bridge near Rafiganj station between Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone in the Mughalsarai division of Eastern Railway.

"The train derailed because some miscreants had removed the fish plates and opened elastic rail clips at the Howrah end approach of the bridge," Chand said releasing a report of inquiry.

The chief commissioner of railway safety has ratified the cause and the same has also been accepted by the Railway Board, he said.

The report puts the primary responsibility of the derailment on unknown/unidentified persons and ascribes "secondary responsibility" to law and order enforcing agencies, an official release said.

The report also blames two gangmen, who were on duty on the night of the accident, and track directorate of railways' Research, Design and Standard Organisation for delay in development of anti-sabotage fasterings on the track.

The CCRS, in its final note to the Railway Ministry, has made 26 recommendations primarily relating to security patrolling in sensitive areas, development of anti-sabotage tools, elimination of single-cut rails and buffer rails on certain
locations.

Emergency lights and emergency exits in coaches, objective evaluation of riding quality of coaches on high-speed trains and and modification in track structure on bridges are some of its other recommendations.