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Andhra Pradesh: India train crash kills 13 and injures dozens

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Many people are feared dead and hundreds of others have been injured after a train crash in eastern India.

At least 50 people have reportedly been killed after a passenger train derailed and collided with a goods train in Odisha's Balasore district.

Rescuers were attempting to free 200 people feared trapped in the derailed coaches, D B Shinde, the Balasore district administrator in Odisha state said.

The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, derailed after the collision and fell on the opposite track, reports said.

India's prime minister Narendra Modi said he is "distressed" by the accident and said rescue operations are underway at the site.

Photos from the scene show people trying to escape from a toppled vehicle.

Pradeep Jena, Odisha's chief secretary, said: "Nearly 50 ambulances have reported but the injured appear far too many. Large (number) of buses being mobilised to shift injured to hospital."

A railroad ministry spokesperson, Amitabh Sharma, said mangled pieces of the derailed train fell on to a nearby track and were hit by another passenger train coming in the opposite direction.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 40,000 miles of track.

SKY
 
Once or twice a year, a major disaster happens with Indian railways. May the victims rest in peace.
 
Insane and sad RIP, as a college goer we always took these trains to get back to hometown, extremely unfortunate!

These were lifelines for us growing up when living in different cities.
 
Thirty eight people were killed and nearly 400 were injured when a passenger train hit the derailed coaches of another train in Odisha's Balasore this evening. Many are feared trapped and the casualties may rise, officials said. A third freight train was also involved in the accident, Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena told NDTV.

Some coaches of Coromandel Express, which was going from Howrah to Chennai, had derailed and fallen on to the adjacent tracks. Yashwantpur-Howrah Superfast train, coming from the other side, rammed the derailed coaches, Railway Ministry spokesperson Amitabh Sharma told NDTV.

The details of the two trains are 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express and 12864 Yashwantpur-Howrah Superfast Express.

Fifteen coaches of Coromandel Express came off the tracks, while two of the other train got derailed.

Odisha Fire Services chief Sudhanshu Sarangi is supervising rescue operations. Medical colleges and hospitals in and around Balasore have been alerted and 60 ambulances have been mobilised.

Over a hundred personnel of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and its state counterpart are looking for trapped passengers and cutting through the debris to reach them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted he has spoken to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

"Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and took stock of the situation. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected," PM Modi said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted she is monitoring the situation continually personally with the Chief Secretary and other senior officers.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has told Revenue Minister Pramila Malik to go to the accident site, news agency PTI reported.

NDTV
 
Heart breaking, RIP to the departed souls.. What a tragedy..

Wishing speedy recovery for the injured and the families affected.
 
Inna lilahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon.

This is truly heartbreaking.
 
India train crash: More than 280 dead after Odisha incident

At least 288 people are now known to have been killed and 900 injured in a multiple train collision in India's eastern Odisha state, officials say.

More than 200 ambulances were sent to the scene in Balasore district, says Odisha's chief secretary Pradeep Jena.

One passenger train is thought to have derailed before being struck by another on the adjacent track late on Friday.

It is India's worst train crash this century. Officials say the death toll is expected to rise further.

Indian Railways said the two services involved were the Coromandel Express and the Howrah Superfast Express.

Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of Odisha Fire Services, said that the death toll stood at 288.

Mr Jena said earlier that more than 100 additional doctors had been mobilised.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was distressed by the incident and his thoughts were with the bereaved families.

"Rescue ops are under way at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah labelled the incident "deeply agonising".

One male survivor said that "10 to 15 people fell on me when the accident happened and everything went haywire. I was at the bottom of the pile.

"I got hurt in my hand and also the back of my neck. When I came out of the train bogie, I saw someone had lost their hand, someone had lost their leg, while someone's face was distorted," the survivor told India's ANI news agency.

A day of mourning has been announced in the state.

...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65793257
 
Champ_Pal said:
Once or twice a year, a major disaster happens with Indian railways. May the victims rest in peace.
Click to expand...

First, heartfelt condolences to the dead. May the injured get relief. This is a terrible accident.

Indian Railways have actually become a lot safer in the past two decades, with very few accidents. But with a massively overloaded network and unprotected railway lines, some incidents are bound to happen.

A thorough investigation must be carried out and any underlying problem fixed to prevent future accidents like this.
 
Indian Railways is a huge network but that in today's world, does not excuse them of negligence and I am hoping heads will roll.
 
This is what happens when you dont wanna talk about your countrys short comings like the trains safety record. When you dont talk, dont wanna crtisize the problems dont want to identify, than the issues and problems stay idle till an incident like this takes place.

Poor stuff from the govt of india that cant fix its railway issues and results in poor people dying.
 
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gani999 said:
First, heartfelt condolences to the dead. May the injured get relief. This is a terrible accident.

Indian Railways have actually become a lot safer in the past two decades, with very few accidents. But with a massively overloaded network and unprotected railway lines, some incidents are bound to happen.

A thorough investigation must be carried out and any underlying problem fixed to prevent future accidents like this.
Click to expand...

Again, as usual, not wanting to accept there is an issue due to nationalism.

How is Indian railway a lot safer when you yourself are saying accidents are bound to happen? You contradicted yourself in the same sentence.

When 300 people are dying, then you can't say it's a lot safer.
 
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Heard about the extremely devastating Odisha train accident in India. <br>I wish speedy recovery for the injured and my condolences to families who have lost their loved ones. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OdishaTrainAccident?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OdishaTrainAccident</a></p>— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) <a href="https://twitter.com/shoaib100mph/status/1664932423619026952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Major said:
Again, as usual, not wanting to accept there is an issue due to nationalism.

How is Indian railway a lot safer when you yourself are saying accidents are bound to happen? You contradicted yourself in the same sentence.

When 300 people are dying, then you can't say it's a lot safer.
Click to expand...

Agree. It's a moment of mourning for us. Time to remain humble and not in denial. Regardless of incremental changes done in last 25 yrs it is important to acknowledge it is not good enough and a lot more needs to be done in terms of safety, security, comfort of the traveller.
 
Major said:
Again, as usual, not wanting to accept there is an issue due to nationalism.

How is Indian railway a lot safer when you yourself are saying accidents are bound to happen? You contradicted yourself in the same sentence.

When 300 people are dying, then you can't say it's a lot safer.
Click to expand...

Where did I say that there wasn't an issue? I openly admitted that there were, and that an investigation had to be carried out to identify and correct them.

Back in the 1990s, we used to have a major collision on the IR network almost every year. It has now come down to the rare but unfortunate incident. This improvement has happened because of dedicated efforts. Even these odd incidents must not happen, but it is difficult to do that in a overloaded and massive network like that of the IR. These are technical difficulties that take time to resolve.
 
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RajBan said:
Agree. It's a moment of mourning for us. Time to remain humble and not in denial. Regardless of incremental changes done in last 25 yrs it is important to acknowledge it is not good enough and a lot more needs to be done in terms of safety, security, comfort of the traveller.
Click to expand...

So the incremental changes that have been made, did that stop the 300(and counting people from dieing)? Any improvements means nothing when you have people still dieing. There is no point of mentioning that because the only reason why that is being mentioned is due to the nationalism, that "oh yes we had 300 people die, but look we have improved". Its just that people dont want to see India be critisized, while the focus shouldn't be on reputation but on getting actual work done and taking action.

This event will die down eventually. Few lakhs will be given and the line will be fixed, which would than be celebrated as incremental improvement until the next accident takes place next year or the year after or the year after that.
 
gani999 said:
Where did I say that there wasn't an issue? I openly admitted that there were, and that an investigation had to be carried out to identify and correct them.

Back in the 1990s, we used to have a major collision on the IR network almost every year. It has now come down to the rare but unfortunate incident. This improvement has happened because of dedicated efforts. Even these odd incidents must not happen, but it is difficult to do that in a overloaded and massive network like that of the IR. These are technical difficulties that take time to resolve.
Click to expand...

Nope, due to the nationalism factor you still celebrated that look all is not bad as we have made improvements.

When 300 people die, sorry to say, for you it might be improvement, but for the poor families, this isn't improvement at all.

At one end you are celebrating small improvements while people are dieing and on the other hand you are claiming it that these technical difficulties take time to resolve.....

Also, as for inverstigation it will be done and the next accident will still take place. Unless people of Indian stop there blind nationalism and call a spade a spade instead of sugar coating that atleast we are improving, than you can never have a perfect system in place.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Saddened to hear about the tragic train accident in Odisha. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost their loved ones and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.</p>— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) <a href="https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/1664862533818122240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited the train accident site in Odisha's Balasore and said those responsible "will be severely punished". The government is standing with those who lost their family members in the tragedy, he said. At least 288 people were killed and 800 injured in the country's deadliest rail accident in more than two decades.

"It's a painful incident. The government will leave no stone unturned for the treatment of those injured. It's a serious incident, instructions issued for probe from every angle. Those found guilty will be severely punished," he said.

PM Modi landed in an Air Force chopper near the site of the incident at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Balasore district, about 170 km north of Bhubaneswar. He visited the injured at the Balasore District Hospital to meet the crash survivors. The PM was seen inspecting the site with fellow cabinet colleagues, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Prime Minister spoke to the Cabinet Secretary and Health Minister from the site. He asked them to ensure all help needed is provided to the injured and their families, said officials.

PM Modi also said that special care must be taken to ensure that the bereaved families don't face inconvenience and those affected keep getting assistance they require.

Earlier today, PM Modi convened a meeting to review the situation in connection with the accident.

Three trains had collided after one of the train's coaches derailed in Balasore at 7 pm on Friday.

The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also on a visit to the state to take stock of the situation and meet the injured in hospitals. Her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik also visited Balasore this morning and reviewed the situation with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The rescue operation in the horrific train accident is complete, and the restoration work has started, railways spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said this afternoon, about 18 hours after the horrific collision.

The crash saw one train ram so hard into the other that carriages were lifted high into the air, twisting and then smashing off the tracks. Another carriage had been tossed entirely onto its roof, crushing the passenger section. Over 3,400 passengers were travelling in two trains, according to railway officials.

The Railways Ministry has ordered a high-level probe into how the accident happened. The ministry has announced a compensation of ₹ 10 lakh for the families of those who have died, and ₹ 2 lakh for those seriously injured. PM Modi has also announced a compensation of ₹ 2 lakh for the family of the dead and ₹ 50,000 for the injured from the PM's National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

NDTV
 
Major said:
Nope, due to the nationalism factor you still celebrated that look all is not bad as we have made improvements.

When 300 people die, sorry to say, for you it might be improvement, but for the poor families, this isn't improvement at all.

At one end you are celebrating small improvements while people are dieing and on the other hand you are claiming it that these technical difficulties take time to resolve.....
Click to expand...


Sadly true .. [MENTION=134230]gani999[/MENTION] has a habit of triviliasing these things. A normal healthy reaction would be outrage at this railway disaster instead of boasting about how far the Indian railways has come.
 
Major said:
So the incremental changes that have been made, did that stop the 300(and counting people from dieing)? Any improvements means nothing when you have people still dieing. There is no point of mentioning that because the only reason why that is being mentioned is due to the nationalism, that "oh yes we had 300 people die, but look we have improved". Its just that people dont want to see India be critisized, while the focus shouldn't be on reputation but on getting actual work done and taking action.

This event will die down eventually. Few lakhs will be given and the line will be fixed, which would than be celebrated as incremental improvement until the next accident takes place next year or the year after or the year after that.
Click to expand...

I will agree on the point that people who have lost somebody, for them that incremental change makes zero sense at this tragic moment. No words are consolation enough for them.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Deeply saddened by the loss of hundreds of lives in a train accident in India. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in this tragedy. Prayers for speedy recovery of the injured.</p>— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) <a href="https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1664916726750887936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
RexRex said:
Sadly true .. [MENTION=134230]gani999[/MENTION] has a habit of triviliasing these things. A normal healthy reaction would be outrage at this railway disaster instead of boasting about how far the Indian railways has come.
Click to expand...

My response was to [MENTION=156243]Champ_Pal[/MENTION] claim that rail accidents happen in India every year. Having studied the IR very closely during the 1990s I know how bad things were. We used to have thousands of people dying each year.
And I merely pointed out that the IR network is overloaded, which can result in bad events. No where does that amount to trivialising the deaths of 300 people. I also have said that there need to be improvements in safety to prevent such accidents in the future.

Nationalism, trivialising....what a bunch of drama queens you lot are!
 
After a crash involving three trains killed 261 people in Odisha last evening, questions are being raised about possible operational lapses that could have contributed to the tragedy.

Between 6.50 pm and 7.10 pm on Friday, two collisions took place at Odisha's Balasore between three trains, leaving a mass of wrecked compartments and coaches on top of one another.

A passenger train, the Coromandel Shalimar Express, derailed after hitting a parked goods train and another train, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast, crashed into the derailed coaches.

The impact was so hard that coaches were lifted high into the air before they smashed onto the tracks. One coach was tossed on its roof. Seventeen coaches of the two trains were severely damaged.

The Railways Ministry has ordered a probe into what may have caused the crash.

There are more than one versions of how the back-to-back crashes took place, but what is certain is that there were three trains and two collisions at the same spot.

Among the many questions surrounding the accident is how the Coromandel Shalimar Express was on the same track as the stationary goods train. Was it a technical glitch or a human error?

Many raised the possibility of a signal error.

The Railways Ministry has been in the process of installing an anti-collision system "Kavach" across the country. Kavach alerts when a train jumps a signal (Signal Passed at Danger -- SPAD), which is the leading cause of train collisions. The system can alert the train driver, take control of the brakes and stop the train when it notices another train on the same tracks.

Kavach was not available on the route involved in the accident, said Railways spokesperson Amitabh Sharma.

The worst-affected parts of the Coromandel Express were the Sleeper class coaches, which are usually packed as during the holidays, even non-reserved passengers get in.

NDTV
 
Horrible.

Fair to say that travelling on a train in India is quite a dangerous occupation?
 
gani999 said:
My response was to [MENTION=156243]Champ_Pal[/MENTION] claim that rail accidents happen in India every year. Having studied the IR very closely during the 1990s I know how bad things were. We used to have thousands of people dying each year.
And I merely pointed out that the IR network is overloaded, which can result in bad events. No where does that amount to trivialising the deaths of 300 people. I also have said that there need to be improvements in safety to prevent such accidents in the future.

Nationalism, trivialising....what a bunch of drama queens you lot are!
Click to expand...

Major isn't wrong. You've just used a tragedy to chest thump and boast about "progress". Despicable to say the least.
 
Saj said:
Horrible.

Fair to say that travelling on a train in India is quite a dangerous occupation?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't hope so majority Indian poor and middle class travel through these long journey trains, I’m sure all Indians on this forum have travelled during their college and childhood years through this.

Hopefully the new safety system gets installed across and we get better funding.
 
FYI, the last instance we had such a deadly disaster (300+ dead) was in 1999.

Even that was an error for an employee. Why haven’t we implemented an Automated system yet? This shouldn’t be very hard. Millions use the trains everyday.
 
Such investigations take months but seems they have already identified the cause.

==

The cause of the catastrophic triple train collision in Odisha's Balasore, which claimed 288 lives and injured over 1,000 people, has been identified and will be revealed soon in a report, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday.

In one of the most devastating train accidents in recent history, two passenger trains and a goods carriage collided on three separate tracks at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Balasore district on Friday evening, leading to the derailment and severe damage to 17 coaches.

Mr Vaishnaw, while speaking to news agency ANI, also said that the track is expected to be restored by Sunday, following his review of the restoration work.

"The root cause of this accident has been identified. PM Modi inspected the site yesterday. We will try to restore the track today. All bodies have been removed. Our target is to finish the restoration work by Wednesday morning so that trains can start running on this track," he said.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has deployed Mi-17 helicopters to aid in the evacuation of the dead and injured, working in coordination with the civil administration and Indian Railways. According to the Eastern Command, these concerted efforts have been crucial in managing the aftermath of this tragic incident.

The Railways Ministry has been actively engaged in the restoration work, which has been ongoing at war footing in Balasore. In a tweet, the Ministry said that over 1,000 people, more than seven Poclain Machines, two Accident Relief Trains, and three to four Railway and Road Cranes have been deployed for early restoration.

"Restoration work is ongoing at Warfooting at the train accident site in Balasore, Odisha with 1000+ Manpower working tirelessly," a tweet by the ministry read.

NDTV
 
Source BBC

_129985630_ac090a41-3419-406a-ae8e-3256d88de7e8.png.webp
 
BAHANAGA, India, June 4 (Reuters) - Rescuers and families searched through mangled train carriages on Sunday for more victims of India's worst rail crash in more than two decades with signal failure emerging as the likely cause.

At least 275 people were killed on Friday when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, went off the tracks and hit another passenger train passing in the opposite direction near the district of Balasore in the eastern state of Odisha.
 
India's railway minister has suggested signal failure led to the Odisha rail disaster, with a "change in electronic interlocking" the likely cause.

Ashwini Vaishnaw later said the cause and people responsible for the deadly three-train crash in eastern India had been identified but gave no details.

A report into India's worst rail accident this century is due later.

Meanwhile the death toll has been revised down to 275 after some bodies were counted twice, officials said.

Of the 1,175 injured people taken to hospital, 793 have been discharged.

BBC
 
Major said:
This is what happens when you dont wanna talk about your countrys short comings like the trains safety record. When you dont talk, dont wanna crtisize the problems dont want to identify, than the issues and problems stay idle till an incident like this takes place.

Poor stuff from the govt of india that cant fix its railway issues and results in poor people dying.
Click to expand...

There are many unanswered questions on what exactly led to a deadly multiple train collision in India on Friday evening that killed at least 288 people and injured more than 800.

Two express passenger trains and a freight train were involved in a "three-way accident" near a small station in eastern state of Odisha, according to reports. One of them collided into the stationary freight train, and its coaches flipped over to a third track, causing an incoming train to derail. A preliminary report indicates that the accident was the result of signal failure.

Only a comprehensive inquiry will help uncover the truth behind the incident. Yet it has once again ignited fresh concerns regarding railway safety in India.

India's expansive railway system - one of the world's largest - carries some 25 million passengers every day across a countrywide network of tracks spanning more than 100,000km (62,000 miles). Some 5,200km of new tracks were laid last year, according to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Also 8,000km of tracks were also being upgraded every year, the minister said.

Mr Vaishnaw recently revealed in an interaction that the majority of the tracks were undergoing upgrades to accommodate trains running at speeds of up to 100 kmph, a substantial portion was being enhanced for speeds of up to 130kmph, and a significant segment was being prepared for the high speeds of up to 160kmph.

Clearly, this is part of the government's plans to run faster trains across the country - a genuinely high-speed line is separately being built between the financial capital of Mumbai and the city of Ahmedabad.

Yet, derailment continues to be a "bugbear for the railways," a former Railway Board chairman, Vivek Sahai, told me. A train can derail for a number of reasons - "a track could be ill-maintained, a coach could be faulty, and there could be an error in driving".

A government railway safety report for 2019-20 found derailments were responsible for 70% of the railway accidents, up from 68% the previous year. (Train fires and collisions came next, responsible for 14% and 8% of the total accidents respectively).

The report counted 40 derailments involving 33 passenger trains and seven freight trains during the year under review. Of these 17 derailments were caused by track "defects" - this could include fractures and subsidence of tracks.

Only nine incidents of derailments were caused because of defects in trains - engines, coaches, wagons - according to the report.

Railway tracks, composed of metal, undergo expansion during the summer months and contraction in winter due to the fluctuations in temperature. They require regular maintenance - tightening loose track components, changing sleepers and lubricating and adjusting switches, among other things. Such track inspection is done by foot, trolleys, locomotives and rear vehicles.

India's railways recommend that track recording cars meticulously evaluate the structural and geometrical integrity of tracks designed to sustain speeds ranging from 110kmph to 130kmph at least once every three months.

A report on derailments by federal auditors between April 2017 and March 2021 had some disturbing findings:

There were "shortfalls ranging from 30% to 100% in inspections" by track recording cars required to assess the geometrical and structural conditions of the tracks, the report said.
A study of 1,129 investigation reports of derailment accidents found that two dozen "factors" were responsible.
A major reason for derailments was related to maintenance of tracks (171 cases), followed by "deviation of track parameters beyond permissible limits".
More than 180 cases of derailments were due to mechanical reasons. More than a third of them were due to defects in coaches and wagons.

"Bad driving and over-speeding" were the other major factor responsible for derailments.

There has been a lot of talk on anti-collision devices to be installed on Indian trains, but the system is now only being installed on two major routes - between Delhi and Kolkata and between Delhi with Mumbai - according to a railway official. It is also not clear how such a system would have helped in the event of a derailment or a "freak" collision.

In 2010 more than 150 people were killed when a passenger train derailed and collided with an oncoming freight train in West Bengal. Investigators said Maoist rebels had sabotaged the track causing the Kolkata-Mumbai passenger train to derail, throwing five of its carriages into the path of the oncoming good trains. There has been no hint of a sabotage yet in Friday's accident.

According to the railways, there were 34 "consequential rail accidents" - collisions, derailments, fire or explosion in trains, road vehicles colliding with trains at level crossings - during 2021-22, up from 27 such accidents during the previous year. The Hindu newspaper reported on 31 May that the number of such accidents had risen to 48 in 2022-2023.

Presciently, the report said the railway authorities were worried about the rising accidents, and had asked their senior manager to "critically analyse long working hours of crew especially in East Coast Railway and South East Central Railway, and take corrective action urgently". Friday evening's accident happened in the busy East Coast Railway zone.

BBC
 
While Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today said the "root cause" of the horrific triple train collision in Odisha's Balasore, which claimed 288 lives and injured over 1,000 people, has been identified and will be revealed soon in a report, critics have pointed to an audit report of the railways tabled in the Parliament in September last year, which flagged several serious lapses in rail safety. The accident happened due to a change in "electronic interlocking", Mr Vaishnaw has said. The Railway Board has also detailed the sequence of events leading to the crash.
India's top auditing body, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in a 2022 report on derailments in Indian Railways sought to find out whether measures to prevent derailments and collisions were clearly laid down and implemented by the rail ministry. It flagged severe shortfalls in inspections, failure to submit or accept inquiry reports after accidents, not utilising a dedicated railway fund on priority tasks, declining trend in funding track renewal, and inadequate staffing in safety operations as serious concerns.

"There were shortfalls ranging from 30-100 per cent in inspections by Track Recording Cars required to assess geometrical and structural conditions of railway tracks," it said.

The report also pointed to failures in the Track Management System, which is being widely discussed after the Odisha train crash.

"Track Management System (TMS) is a web-based application for online monitoring of track maintenance activities. The in-built monitoring mechanism of the TMS portal was, however, not found to be operational," it said.

From April 2017 to March 2021, 422 derailments were attributable to the 'Engineering Department'. The major factor responsible for derailment was related to the 'maintenance of track' (171 cases), followed by 'deviation of track parameters beyond permissible limits' (156 cases), the report said, adding that 'bad driving/over speeding' was the major factor responsible for derailments.

The number of accidents attributable to the 'Operating Department' was 275. 'Incorrect setting of points and other mistakes in shunting operations' accounted for 84 per cent, the CAG found.

"Most of the derailments occurred due to simultaneous failures of each of the five barriers namely (i) Rules and Joint Procedure Orders (JPOs), (ii) Training/Counselling of staff, (iii) Supervision of operations, (iv) Coordination and communication between staff of different departments and (v) Scheduled Inspections," the report said.

The 'inquiry reports' were not submitted to the accepting authority within the prescribed time schedule in 63 per cent of cases and in 49 per cent of cases, there was a delay in the acceptance of the reports by accepting authorities, it said.

The report said overall expenditure on priority tasks from the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh -- a reserve fund that received a corpus of ₹ 1 lakh crore over five years starting from 2017-18 -- showed a declining trend. The allotment of funds for track renewal works declined, and the already allocated funds were also not fully utilised, the CAG report said.

"There was increasing trend on IR (Indian Railways) towards expenditure on non-priority works against the guiding principles of Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) deployment framework. The sole purpose of creating a separate dedicated fund for financing safety-related works was defeated, as safety-related works were held up due to fund constraints," it said.

"Out of 1,127 derailments during 2017-21, 289 derailments (26 per cent) were linked to track renewals," the CAG report said.

Out of 2,908 manned level crossings (nine per cent) targeted for elimination during 2018-21, only 2,059 (70 per cent) level crossings were eliminated, it said.

"Required steps were not taken for adequate staffing in the safety category, which can impact the quality of maintenance," the CAG concluded.

The CAG recommended Railways ensure strict adherence to the scheduled timelines for conducting and finalisation of accident inquiries and develop a strong monitoring mechanism to ensure timely implementation of maintenance activities by adopting fully mechanised methods of track maintenance and improved technologies.

"The deficiencies in setting up a foolproof system of learning from past mistakes are a serious impediment to the fulfilment of one of the main objectives of the accident inquiry reports of preventing recurrences of incidents of derailments," it said.

NDTV
 
Relatives of the victims of Friday's deadly three-train crash in India have spoken of their continuing, desperate efforts to find their loved ones.

One woman looking for her adult son told the BBC she had travelled for 30 hours to the crash site, searching hospitals and morgues on the way.

Officials said on Saturday that their rescue mission in Odisha had ended - but one eyewitness said he had seen a survivor retrieved the next morning.

The latest death toll stands at 275.

A signalling fault is emerging as the likely cause of the disaster - India's worst rail accident for decades.

Lilavati Devi broke down as she told the BBC on Sunday that that she was still looking for her son, although other eight members of her family who were on one of the trains had been located.

"I pray that we find him somewhere - one way or another," she said. "There's nothing more I want. May God keep my son safe."

Her son Raja Sahani, 22, was travelling along with relatives from their hometown in the north-eastern state of Bihar to the affluent southern city of Bangalore - where they work odd jobs as daily wagers.

Travel involves changing trains in the city of Howrah, which is where they boarded the ill-fated train. Raja sent a photo of himself there.

Hours after he departed, Lilavati got a call from another family member saying there had been an accident. She tried Raja's phone repeatedly after that, but it was switched off.

Her search had yielded nothing so far, she said. They spent 45,000 rupees (£438) hiring a car to make the journey - a cost well beyond their means.

"I have even looked in all hospitals and morgues here, but can't find him", she said. "We asked the morgues to show photos of all the dead bodies over and over. But he's not there."

Odisha state official Pradeep Jena told the BBC that at least 187 bodies remained unidentified.

Officials were uploading pictures of the victims on government websites and would carry out DNA testing if needed, he said.

"It's a real challenge for us," he said.

Others, too, have been shuttling between the different temporary centres, looking at photos and hoping to get some news.

Vishwanath Sahni told the AFP news agency that he was still looking for his 26-year-old son, who had been on his way to Chennai when the disaster occurred.

"I don't know if I'll find my son," he said, while waiting at a morgue - having enquired at every hospital he was able to.

Despite railway officials saying on Saturday that all trapped and injured people at the site had been rescued, search efforts appear to have continued at the crash site.

Journalist and author Sandeep Sahu told the BBC of a "miraculous" discovery on Sunday morning, when an injured survivor was pulled from the mangled wreckage and then rushed to hospital.

He said dead bodies, too, were still being found - and that he had seen five of these taken from the scene, 36 hours after the accident.

These were placed in a nearby school that has been used as a temporary morgue.

There was a "horrifying" moment when one of the victims' mobile phones rang, he said - "but there was nobody to respond to the call."

BBC
 
umnaqi2_odisha_625x300_04_June_23.jpg

Railway Minister Prays As Movement Resumes At Train Crash Site

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/odi...-movement-resumes-at-train-crash-site-4094139
Click to expand...

What kind of garbage coverage of a tragedy is this. I don't even dare to look at the other Godi media.

Do your job, or whatever is left of it, and stop doing tamasha that should be restricted to the personal space of your home. Your prayers are not going to help a single human like they didn't when your leader asked us to bang pots and pans.

When did India turn into an idiot country where prayers by a politician became part of his job description.
 
For a country that loves to boost about its relations, economy etc, its pathetic to see the videos where the bodies are being thrown on a small pick up truck.

I am surprised that the country has no ambulance system or even a system to handle bodies as they were placed on a platform with just a fan.

In events like these, the nationalism should crumble, and instead the people of the country should start asking questions that why the Govt fails to provide basic necessities.

Like, this could had been anyone of you guys or god forbid a relative, its just terrible to see how the bodies were being handled and being dumped into a truck
 
Those trains look so ancient, has the gov not looked to invest in their rail services?
 
RIP.

Modi said those involved will be severely punished. Is he going to whip himself?
 
Odisha Government, Accused Of Manipulating Train Deaths, Says "No Intention To Hide"
Asked about the change in the death count, Odisha Chief Secretary PK Jena said it was due to double counting of some bodies.

Odisha Chief Secretary PK Jena said his government has no intention to hide the deaths in the Balasore train crash and the entire rescue operation was being conducted in full public view.
Reacting to allegations that the death count figure was being manipulated, he said Odisha believes in transparency.

"Media persons are very much present at the accident site since the beginning. Everything is being done in the presence of cameras," he said.

"The railways had stated the death count as 288. We also said that, and the figure was based on information from the railways. But, our Balasore District Collector has verified the death count, and the figure was 275 till 10 am of Sunday," he said.

Asked about the change in the death count, Mr Jena said it was due to double counting of some bodies.

The chief secretary said there was also no prohibition on the entry of media persons at the accident site. "The rescue and even restoration activities went on in full public view," he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the death figures, stating that 61 people from her state were dead and 182 were still missing.

...
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/odi...ion-to-hide-4094450#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll
 
pillionrider said:
View attachment 119541



What kind of garbage coverage of a tragedy is this. I don't even dare to look at the other Godi media.

Do your job, or whatever is left of it, and stop doing tamasha that should be restricted to the personal space of your home. Your prayers are not going to help a single human like they didn't when your leader asked us to bang pots and pans.

When did India turn into an idiot country where prayers by a politician became part of his job description.
Click to expand...
Shameless troll, Amit Malviya has stooped to a new low as to count the number of dead bodies from rail accidents under previous railway ministers, notably from opposition

Under Mamata Banerjee as railway minister, 1,451 people died in 54 cases of collisions and 839 incidents of train derailments, he said.

Death toll was 1,159 when Lalu Yadav was the minister while the corresponding figure for Nitish Kumar was 1,527.

https://www.rediff.com/news/report/...l-ministers-resignation-bjp-says/20230604.htm
 
Is any low, low enough for sanghi trolls?
 
I think he forgot Nitish Kumar was railway minister under Vajpayee.

Or has Vajpyee now been forgotten by sanghis?
 
MP2011 said:
Shameless troll, Amit Malviya has stooped to a new low as to count the number of dead bodies from rail accidents under previous railway ministers, notably from opposition

Under Mamata Banerjee as railway minister, 1,451 people died in 54 cases of collisions and 839 incidents of train derailments, he said.

Death toll was 1,159 when Lalu Yadav was the minister while the corresponding figure for Nitish Kumar was 1,527.

https://www.rediff.com/news/report/...l-ministers-resignation-bjp-says/20230604.htm
Click to expand...

Well this is what BJP supporters on the forum do all the time. Compare compare compare. Now they ae celebrating no. of deaths
 
Every other day a new Vande Bharat train is inaugurated with much fanfare.

Can we ensure that instead of spending huge sums of money on a white elephant like Bullet train and new trains, we can first keep our existing trains safe and ensure rail passengers and their family members don't have to go through those passengers went through last Friday?

Apparently, the Coromandel Express was coming at a speed of 128 kmph and the speed at which you can take the curve that takes you to the loop line should not exceed 30 kmph!

Are our rail lines good enough to take load of all these high speed rails?
 
Major said:
Well this is what BJP supporters on the forum do all the time. Compare compare compare. Now they ae celebrating no. of deaths
Click to expand...
I always say, no low is low enough for them.
 
Odisha Train Tragedy: An Unaccountable Central Government Enabled by Big Media

Not just commuters, but people like Pinaki Raj Mandal, a resident of Howrah, who make a living by selling tea in such trains. Sujay Jana, who sold Jhalmudi with him, told The Telegraph newspaper's correspondent that Mandal had alighted from the train after selling tea at the Balasore station as he used to do daily. But he noticed that there was some tea left in his kettle. Thinking of earning some more by selling the remainder, he decided to go from Balasore to Bhadrak. After telling Sujay to wait for him for dinner, he boarded the train again. But the train could not reach Bhadrak. Sujay was cooking meat for both of them. Pinaki Raj was not to return to have dinner with his companion Sujay.

the CAG, the institution that monitors the institutions of the state itself, after checking the budget and expenses of the railways, has reported that for the last several years, especially for the last 4 years, the maintenance and safety of the railways has been pushed to the background.

On Saturday too, the Prime Minister was to flag off a new 'Vande Bharat' train. But this accident ruined all the preparations.

The big media seemed more concerned that this accident should not affect the image of the Prime Minister, or even the government. The Prime Minister himself is worried about it. So his publicity department arranged for the public to see photographs of the prime minister conferring with officials in a grave posture. Even in this moment of great tragedy, he did not forget to get his meeting with the officials properly choreographed and video-graphed from all angles to give it an air of seriousness.

It is his habit, but it needs to be pointed out that he found time to change his dress after this meeting before he flew to the accident site. We are made to see images of the PM leaning against a pole and talking on the mobile repeatedly. No one asked from whom and what information he is taking on mobile after reaching the accident site.

The most obscene was the beautiful tent that was erected for the Prime Minister at the accident site to confer with the officials, when there were heaps of dead bodies right next to it and there was no provision of clothes to cover them. Coolers were installed inside. So, you know things can be done if you want.

https://www.thequint.com/opinion/od...ral-government-enabled-by-the-media#read-more
 
India's railway ministry has recommended that the country's top detective agency should investigate the deadly crash that killed 275 people.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the decision but did not give more details.

Railways-led investigations have already started and preliminary reports say a signal fault led to the crash.

The three-train collision on Friday night has been described as India's worst rail accident this century.

More than 1,000 suffered injuries and were taken to hospitals. Some families are still searching for their loved ones.

It's not clear why the Railway Board, the ministry's top decision making body, has recommended a separate investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when other inquiries have already started.

The CBI investigates high profile criminal causes, including serious financial frauds and murders.

Mr Vaishnaw said on Sunday that "the root cause" of the accident and people responsible for the "criminal act" had been identified.

He added that a "change in electronic interlocking" was the likely cause of the accident. The minister urged people to wait for the final report.

A report by the Commissioner of Railway Safety would be made public soon and it would reveal the cause, he said.

BBC
 
cricketjoshila said:
Another accident averted.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">⚠️ Shocking: Another <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrainAccident?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TrainAccident</a> Averted.<br><br>An underage boy was caught sabotaging the railway Track this time in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Karnataka?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Karnataka</a>.<br><br>We have tens of thousands of Kms of railway tracks and forget adults now even kids are being used for sabotaging and causing deaths.<br><br>This is a serious… <a href="https://t.co/URe9zW4NgG">pic.twitter.com/URe9zW4NgG</a></p>— Arun Pudur (@arunpudur) <a href="https://twitter.com/arunpudur/status/1665650327851515904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Deliberate attempt to derail the train.
Click to expand...

oh plz, so there is a conspiracy gang that is derailing trains by rocks?

So Indian trains are so bad that they can easily be derailed by a few rocks?

You do know, trains have deflectors and lifguards that removes or crushes any object that is on the rail and is destoryed before making contact with the Trains wheel
 
Major said:
oh plz, so there is a conspiracy gang that is derailing trains by rocks?

So Indian trains are so bad that they can easily be derailed by a few rocks?

You do know, trains have deflectors and lifguards that removes or crushes any object that is on the rail and is destoryed before making contact with the Trains wheel
Click to expand...

Did you watch the full video and how long the rock trail was?

The momentum of the train at such high speeds can derail it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665659063701581825


Why was he tying that white box to the track?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
cricketjoshila said:
Did you watch the full video and how long the rock trail was?

The momentum of the train at such high speeds can derail it.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Our railway tracks are fully occupied illegally. Recently when Railways tried to remove them the CONgress ecosystem went all out to stop it. Then SC stalled it. How can any organization manage such things 24x7x365 over tens of thousands of Kms?<br><br>Continuation of the video &#55357;&#56391;&#55356;&#57340; <a href="https://t.co/Ki8NirXaIj">pic.twitter.com/Ki8NirXaIj</a></p>— Arun Pudur (@arunpudur) <a href="https://twitter.com/arunpudur/status/1665659063701581825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Why was he tying that white box to the track?
Click to expand...

yes i watched the video, and let me repeat myself, trains have lifeguards that remove these things. Maybe in India they dont have so, but world wide they do.

The only way to derail a train by placing things on track is by a boulder.

you think trains can be derailed by a white box? Probably Indian trains.

World wide, kids place coins on track and do weird experiments, it doesnt derail trains for gods sake
 
Major said:
yes i watched the video, and let me repeat myself, trains have lifeguards that remove these things. Maybe in India they dont have so, but world wide they do.

The only way to derail a train by placing things on track is by a boulder.

you think trains can be derailed by a white box? Probably Indian trains.

World wide, kids place coins on track and do weird experiments, it doesnt derail trains for gods sake
Click to expand...

Maybe not derailment, but when stones on the track are crushed by fast moving trains, the shrapnel can fly out at bullet speeds and damage trackside equipment. They can even hurt or kill people in other trains moving on parallel tracks.

It is *very* dangerous for a fast moving vehicle to come into contact with any potential projectile, however small.
 
gani999 said:
Maybe not derailment, but when stones on the track are crushed by fast moving trains, the shrapnel can fly out at bullet speeds and damage trackside equipment. They can even hurt or kill people in other trains moving on parallel tracks.

It is *very* dangerous for a fast moving vehicle to come into contact with any potential projectile, however small.
Click to expand...

Thats something else but [MENTION=76058]cricketjoshila[/MENTION] cliams that indian trains can get derailed by a pebble and by a cardboard box
 
RIP, tragic.

A huge failure by the Indian rail. Tracks should be checked regularly. Compensation should be given to the victims families.
 
Four days since India's deadliest rail crash in over two decades, which killed 278 people and injured over a thousand in Odisha's Balasore, over a hundred bodies are yet to be identified. NDTV visited the mortuary of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneswar, where distressed family members and friends of those still missing are struggling to identify the bodies from a slideshow of pictures of disfigured bodies playing before them. Several stayed glued to the screen, as the pictures kept repeating, frustrated that they couldn't identify the bodies from the pictures being shown.

The horrific crash has left many limbless and severely disfigured, and high-tension electrical wire overhead also reportedly charred some bodies beyond recognition, which is one of the major reasons families are having trouble identifying the bodies.

"Our boy was on the train during the accident. We have come here to identify the body, but are unable to. We have been looking at the pictures but can't identify our boy's body," the father said, narrating that they heard about the accident two days later. The boy boarded the train from Howrah and was headed to Chennai, he said. Four men from the family of the victim, from Samastipur in Bihar, took the same journey to reach the body -- they travelled to Howrah, got on a train, and arrived in Balasore, the tragically unplanned last stop of the boy, this morning.

Another man from West Bengal said he also couldn't identify the body from the pictures.

Six people of a family, from Bihar's Madhubani district, were on the train during the three-train collision. Their relative, Mohammad Tahir, said he found one dead body, but five were still missing. Pictures weren't of any help.

Arvind Chaudhary from Bihar's Khagaria district has been looking for his uncle. "We have visited two-three hospitals so far, but haven't been able to locate him. Doctors told us that if their picture is not being displayed for identification, it means they are alive somewhere," he said. A security force personnel standing nearby said he has been assisting Mr Chaudhary by providing him with the names of people under treatment at various hospitals, but his uncle is untraceable so far.

Rakesh Yadav from Bihar's Darbhanga has been looking for his brother for two days now without success. He said he found the body of someone from his village at the fifth hospital he visited yesterday, but his brother is still missing. "Some names and pictures aren't on the hospital lists. But when I reached the fifth out of six hospitals I went to yesterday, they showed me a picture separately and asked me to identify it. It was a person from my village," Mr Yadav said.

Family members of those missing have camped at the AIIMS compound in the hope that they'll get more information about their loved ones.

Officials on Monday said that there are still 101 bodies yet to be identified.

Talking to news agency ANI, Divisional Railway Manager of the Eastern Central Railways Rinkesh Roy said that around 200 people are still being treated in various hospitals in Odisha.

"About 1,100 people were injured in the accident, out of which about 900 people were discharged after treatment. Around 200 people are being treated in various hospitals in the state. Out of 278 people who died in the accident, 101 bodies are yet to be identified," Mr Roy told ANI.

Vijay Amrit Kulange, Commissioner, of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation told ANI, "Of the total 193 bodies kept in Bhubaneswar, 80 bodies have been identified. 55 bodies have been handed over to the relatives. More than 200 calls have been received on BMC's helpline number 1929. The dead bodies are being identified and handed over to the relatives."

The railways, in coordination with the Odisha government, has prepared three online links with photos of those killed and lists of passengers admitted to different hospitals.

The railways has appealed to people to use the three links -- link of photos of the deceased, link of lists of passengers undergoing treatment in different hospitals, and link of unidentified persons under treatment at SCB Cuttack.

NDTV
 
India’s deadliest train crash this century was caused by the “deliberate interference” of a “fail-proof” electronic system, according to the country’s railway officials.

As many as 278 people, many of them migrant labourers travelling in relatively cheaper sections, were killed and 1,100 injured in the collision of three trains near Balasore city in Odisha state on 2 June.

The death toll was revised on Tuesday after three more of those who were severely injured succumbed at hospitals. Witnesses and political leaders have questioned the official death toll and raised questions over whether it was kept artificially low given the vast number of those critically injured.

A probe into the traumatic accident was handed to the country’s premier investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which will examine if the derailment happened from criminal negligence or sabotage.

Top railways officials claim there is clear evidence of deliberate tempering in the electronic signalling system that is otherwise considered “fail-proof”.

A preliminary investigation by India’s railways ministry identified “signal failure” as the root cause of the accident.

Ministry officials conducting the initial probe spoke anonymously to the Times of India and found “deliberate interference” with the interlocking system operated from a cabin at the Bahanaga Bazar station that oversees the stretch.

They claimed there was clear evidence of tampering with the system and are hopeful that the CBI probe will help identify those responsible and their motive.

The electronic interlocking system prevents multiple trains from using or heading towards the same tracks. It was described as “fail-proof”, which means signals on the track will turn red and halt the movement of all the trains on the impacted line.

“So, unless there is deliberate interference in the system, it is not possible that a route that is set for the main line for a train is switched to the loop line,” the official told the newspaper.

The powerful triple collision happened after a high-speed passenger train packed with commuters was wrongly directed to a loop track where a freight train was already stationed.

The passenger train, the Coromandel Express, hit the freight train and derailed before its coaches slammed onto another passenger train in the opposite direction.

The other train, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express, was travelling from Bengaluru to Howrah city near Kolkata when its coaches were hit by the Coromandel Express, leading to scores of fatalities in the carriages of both trains.

The accident has sparked questions over the safety of India’s vast railways network – used by more than 22 million people every day – as prime minister Narendra Modi focused on building new high-speed trains for the modernation of the country’s colonial-era railroad network.

Mr Modi faced flak for prioritising the construction of new high-speed trains, known as Vande Bharat, instead of addressing issues within the existing railroad network.

The railways are considered one of the cheapest means of travel across the country for millions of lower-income people.

Four days after the crash, distraught relatives of passengers killed in the accident travelled to Odisha state capital Bhubaneswar where the dead bodies and those injured have been bought.

Around 101 bodies of the 278 dead are yet to be identified, Eastern Central Railways official Rinkesh Ray told ANI.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...p&cvid=9e498daae2634b7fbacffeb8f8ba2b7a&ei=15
 
India’s top investigations agency has seized the mobile phones and electronic devices of the railway officials on duty during the deadly triple-train crash that killed at least 288 people last week in Odisha.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been tasked with establishing whether any criminal charges should be brought in relation to the crash, seized data from the nearest railway station to the crash site, Bahanaga, on the second day of their probe. The data logger that was taken, considered the “black box” of railways, monitors and records all activities and events in the signalling system of a station.
 
An official probe into India's rail crash is focusing on suspected manual bypassing of an automated signalling system that guides train movement - an action investigators believe sent a packed express train into a stationary freight train, three Indian Railways sources told Reuters.

The Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) investigators suspect the bypass was done by railway workers to get around signalling hurdles that arose from a malfunctioning barrier used to stop road traffic at a nearby rail-road intersection, two of the three sources said.

The sources did not want to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

NDTV
 
At least 13 people have died and about 50 are injured after two passenger trains collided in India's southern Andhra Pradesh state on Sunday.

A rescue operation was launched and hundreds of emergency workers were at the site to clear the wreckage.

Officials said a preliminary investigation has found that a "human error" had led to the collision.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences and said he was in touch with the railways minister.

The crash took place in the Vizianagaram district on Sunday evening.

Officials said three carriages of a passenger train, travelling between Visakhapatnam and Palasa, derailed around19:00 (13:30 GMT), after it was hit by another train.

The train had stopped on the tracks "due to a break in an overhead cable", when a second incoming passenger train travelling between Visakhapatnam and Rayagada rammed into it from behind, a railway official told Reuters news agency.

Hundreds of ambulances, doctors, nurses and rescue personnel were sent to the scene to rescue passengers and pull out bodies.

Biswajit Sahu, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Coast Railway, said that a "human error" had led to the collision, caused by "overshooting of signal" by the second train.

He added that 33 trains have been cancelled and 22 others have been diverted following the accident. Railway officials expect the affected track to be cleared for traffic to resume by Monday evening.

Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's office said he would visit the site of accident on Monday. The minister has also announced financial compensation for the victims.

India has one of the largest train networks in the world with millions of passengers using it daily, but a lot of the railway infrastructure needs improving.

Sunday's accident comes just months after a devastating crash involving three trains killed 292 people and injured thousands more in the eastern state of Odisha.

The country's top detective agency arrested three railway employees in connection with the railway accident, which was the worst in 20 years.

Source: BBC News
 

At least 9 dead, dozens injured as trains collide in India's Darjeeling district, a tourist hotspot​

NEW DELHI — A cargo train rammed into a passenger train in India’s eastern state of West Bengal on Monday, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens of others, officials said.

Television channels showed video of one train rammed into the end of the other, with one compartment rising vertically in the air. Doctors and ambulances rushed to the accident site in the Darjeeling district, a tourist spot nestled in the Himalayan foothills, soon after the collision. Scores of people gathered as rescuers searched through the debris.

Three of the nine dead were railway personnel, said Sabyasachi De, spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway. Nearly 50 people were hospitalized.

The driver of the cargo train, who was among the dead, disregarded a signal and caused the collision, De said. Four compartments at the rear of the passenger train derailed due to the impact, he said, adding that most of the cars were carrying cargo while one was a passenger coach.

De said rescuers have finished searching for any more passengers, with workers now focused on restoring the damaged tracks and removing the derailed coaches. The rest of the coaches, carrying around 1,300 passengers, continued to their original destination of Kolkata, the state’s capital, he said.

The Kanchanjunga Express is a daily train that connects West Bengal state with other cities in the northeast. It is often used by tourists who travel to the hill station of Darjeeling, popular at this time of year when other Indian cities are sweltering in the heat.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India daily, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track. Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents happen annually, most blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.

Last year, a train crash in eastern India killed over 280 people in one of the country’s deadliest accidents in decades.

 
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