Kolkata: Three bogeys of 22850 Secunderabad-Shalimar superfast weekly express were derailed near Nalpur station under Kharagpur division of the south eastern railway (SER) zone on Saturday (November 9), leaving over a dozen passengers injured. However, no casualty was reported.
The accident happened around 5:31 am. The ill-fated coaches involve a one parcel van. Talking to mediapersons, divisional railway manager, Kharagpur, KR Chaudhary said, “The restoration work will take about 2 more hours. Once it is completed, train operations will be resumed on the down line as well. No one has been injured. All passengers are safe and have reached their destination.”
The coaches jumped the rail when they were passing through the track junction before entering the station. “Accident relief train and medical relief trains from Santragachi and Kharagpur have reached the derailment spot. Buses have been arranged to carry the stranded passengers to their destinations. The restoration process is in progress,” said a senior officer of the SER.
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ECR public relations officer said that there has been no major damage, and no casualties so far, and only one or two passengers have sustained minor injuries. As per reports, among the three derailed coaches, one was a parcel van and two were passenger coaches which were derailed on Saturday.
Train Derailments Have Become Order of The Day
Derailment of trains has become the order of the day in India. On October 11, 2024, the Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati express derailed after colliding with a stationary goods train at Kavaraipettai, near Chennai. The derailment caused at least 19 injuries, and three derailed coaches caught fire.
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A suburban train derailed on Friday (Oct 18) at Kalyan station in Thane district, some 60 kilometres from Mumbai, while entering a platform. Two coaches of an empty local train derailed while entering a car shed from Mumbai Central, affecting operations on the Western Railway on October 13.
18 Train Accidents in five months this year
According to an RTI query filed by activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur, 18 train accidents were reported in the first five months of 2024-25. This is an average of three train accidents per month over the past five years.
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A goods train collided with the Sealdah–Agartala Kanchanjunga express train near Rangapani railway station in Darjeeling, West Bengal on June 17 this year, which killed a dozen passengers and left over five dozen injured. Mumbai-Howrah mail derailed in July 2024, while a goods train jumped the track the same month. Chandigarh-Dibrugarh express derailment had also derailed on July 17 2024.
On July 14, the Hazarduari Express passenger train narrowly avoided a major accident when it collided with two cars at Khardah railway station in West Bengal. Sabarmati-Agra Express derailed on Monday, March 18, 2024, near the Madar Railway Station in Ajmer, Rajasthan.
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Other Train Accidents in 2024
Two people were killed and at least 20 were injured after 18 coaches of the Howrah–Mumbai CSMT Mail derailed near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand on July 30 this year. Nearly 22 coaches of the Sabarmati Express derailed near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh after the train reportedly hit a boulder on August 17. The locomotive of Vivek Express got detached from the coaches while on the move near Katpadi Junction railway station in Tamil Nadu as the coupler broke on July 25.
On 26 October, a 69-year-old man was killed after he was stuck by a loose brake shoe from a passenger train running from Rameswaram to Madurai in Tamil Nadu while he was walking near the railway track. Mhow-Ratlam fast passenger, a DEMU, caught fire between Runija and Naugaon stations in Madhya Pradesh 27 October. Four passengers were injured when illegal firecrackers carried by the passengers ignited on a passenger train from Jind to Delhi near Sampla in Haryana on October 28.
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Four wagons of a mechanical rake derailed near Narayanpur Anant yard in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on September 18, 2024, disrupting railway services on the route. Twenty coal-loaded wagons of a freight train derailed near Vrindavan Road station in Uttar Pradesh on September 18, 2024. The derailment has blocked three rail lines which has brought the train traffic to halt on Mathura-Palwal route.
313 passengers, 4 railway staff died in 40 train accidents in 2023
A total of 313 passengers and four Railway employees died in 40 train accidents in the 2023-24 financial year, the Ministry of Railways said in response to information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
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The number of casualties and injuries was the highest during the year and is almost half the number of deaths reported during the past 10 years when a total of 719 passengers and 29 employees have lost their lives in 638 train accidents.
Balasore Train Collision
As many as 296 people were killed and more than 1,200 were injured in one of the deadliest railway accidents on June 2, 2023 when three trains collided in Balasore district in the east Indian state of Odisha. The accident happened when Coromandel Express, a passenger train, collided with a stationary goods train near Bahanaga Bazar railway station on the Howrah–Chennai main line.
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Andhra Pradesh Train Accident
On October 29, 2023, a devastating train collision occurred between the Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger train and the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train, leaving a trail of destruction between the towns of Alamanda and Kantakapalle in Andhra Pradesh. Tragically, 14 lives were lost in the incident, and rescue operations continue in Vizianagaram district as authorities work tirelessly to tend to the injured and retrieve the wreckage.
Officials have revealed that the accident was a result of one of the passenger trains overshooting a signal, leading to the catastrophic collision. Such accidents serve as a stark reminder of the critical importance of modernizing signaling systems and improving vigilance among railway personnel to avert such tragedies in the future.
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North East Express Accident
On the night of October 11, 2023, six coaches of the 12506 Anand Vihar Terminal-Kamakhya North East express derailed near Raghunathpur railway station in Buxar district, Bihar. The incident resulted in four fatalities and more than 70 injuries.
Mathura EMU Train Derailment
An EMU train originating from Shakur Basti in Mathura derailed and climbed onto platform number 2A at the station on the night of September 26, 2023, causing significant disruption.
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Tiruchirapalli-Shri Ganganagar Humsafar SF Express Fire
A fire broke out in the EOG and B1 coach of the 22498 Tiruchirapalli-Shri Ganganagar Humsafar SF express while crossing Valsad railway station on September 23, 2023.
Lucknow-Rameshwaram Bharat Gaurav Train Fire
Around 5:15 AM , a fire erupted in the Lucknow-Rameshwaram Bharat Gaurav train, stationed near Madurai Junction. Preliminary investigations revealed that passengers had smuggled a gas cylinder aboard the train and were cooking in the coach when the fire broke out, resulting in nine deaths and 20 injuries.
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Falaknuma Express Fire
A horrific incident occurred on July 7, 2023, when three coaches of the Falaknuma Express to Howrah caught fire between Bommaipally and Pagidipally. The cause of the fire remains unknown, but fortunately, there were no casualties or injuries reported.
Nilgiri Mountain Railway Derailment
The last coach of the 4-coach Nilgiri Mountain Railway heading from Ooty to Mettupalayam derailed near Coonoor station on June 8, 2023. There were, however, no injuries or casualties in the accident.
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Jan Shatabdi Express Coach Derailment
A coach of the Vijayawada-Chennai Central Jan Shatabdi Express derailed near Basin Bridge station on June 9, 2023, with no reported injuries or casualties.
Chennai Suburban Train Derailment
The last coach of a Chennai suburban local train derailed near Basin Bridge station in the morning of June 11, 2023. No injuries or casualties reported.
Lokmanya Tilak Express Fire
A coach of the Lokmanya Tilak Express from Chennai to Mumbai caught fire near Vyasarpadi station on June 22, 2023, due to friction in a high-voltage power line. Fortunately, no injuries or casualties were reported.
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Causes of Rise in Train Accidents
A section of the railway officials believed that Indian Railways’ focus on passengers’ safety and maintenance of tracks suffered badly owing to the ministry’s emphasis on new projects and major infrastructure development.
“Human error, including driver fatigue, insufficient training and negligence, also plays a critical role in these accidents. Signal failures and communication breakdowns among railway staff have contributed to several derailments,” said the officer, wishing not to be quoted. Indian Railways operates across 67,000km and serves 2.3 crore passengers daily.
CAG Pointed Out Huge Deficit in Track Renewal
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India reported a ₹103,395 crore deficit for track renewal. Despite an allocation of ₹58,459 crore, only ₹671 crore was spent by the end of 2020-21, representing just 0.7% of the required amount. The CAG also highlighted more than 1 lakh signal failures and numerous track and rolling stock issues each year.
