New Delhi: In yet another fatal railway incident, two persons were killed and 20 others injured after 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai Mail derailed at the border between Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum districts early today, July 30.
PTI has reported that the accident took place at 3.45 am at Barabamboo which is 80 kilometres from Jamshedpur. The area is under the jurisdiction of the Chakradharpur Division of the South Eastern Railway.
According to a Railway official quoted by PTI, another train – a goods vehicle – derailed nearby. However, it is not clear if the two incidents took place at the same time, although the West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary told the news agency that the mail train hit the goods train which was stationary.
An NDRF team is conducting rescue operations on the spot.
Out of the 18 coaches that derailed of the 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail via Nagpur train, 16 were passenger ones, one was the power car and the other, the pantry car.
Most of the injured have been taken to Chakradharpur.
Some express and passenger trains were cancelled, including 22861 Howrah-Titlagarh-Kantabanji Ispat Express and 12021 Howrah-Barbil Janshatabdi Express, according to PTI.
Some others were short-terminated or diverted.
Another accident…
Railway accidents have become mainstays in India, leading to frequent outrage against the Union government and railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Earlier this month, 11 railway organisations and central trade unions issued a scathing joint statement, demanding accountability of the Union government, its ministers and other high authorities for the large number of preventable accidents in the Indian Railways.
The word “railways” was mentioned once during the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s 83-minute long budget speech. However, the railways have got their highest ever allocation in this year’s budget – a total outlay of Rs 2.62 lakh crore. This does not take away from allegations that the Railways’ spending has been focused on high-speed alternatives and less on safety and signalling.
Just in July this year, the Hazarduari Express collided with two cars at Khardah Railway Station near Kolkata.
Between July 20 and July 21, three goods trains derailed across three states — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal.
In June, the Kanchanjunga Express was hit by a goods train in Bengal’s Darjeeling district, killing 10 and injuring 40.
In June 2023, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train were involved in a fatal pile-up at Balasore in Odisha, killing 293 people.
