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Two persons were killed and 22 injured when 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai mail train derailed in the Seraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said.
Opposition parties including the Congress, JMM and Trinamool Congress criticised Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for taking responsibility for the accident and advised him to focus on passenger safety.
The accident led railways to divert or cancel around 35 trains, mostly in the South Eastern Railway zone, officials said, adding that they were working to restore the three affected tracks.
“At least 18 of the 22 coaches of the mail train number 12810, which was travelling to Mumbai via Nagpur, derailed near Balabanbu station in the Chakradharpur division of the Southeastern Railway,” said Om Prakash Charan, spokesperson of the Southeastern Railway.
Among them, there are 16 passenger cars, 1 power car and 1 dining car.
“Two persons died and 22 were injured. Of the injured, 18 have been discharged from hospital and four are under observation,” Sellakera-Kalsawan police chief Mukesh Kumar Lunayat told PTI.
He said one coach of a freight train derailed and fell on other tracks where the Howrah-Mumbai mail train was passing, adding that a passenger train hit the coaches, causing 18 coaches to derail.
West Singhbhum deputy commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary was supervising the rescue work at the accident site.
The accident site is located near the border of West Singhbhum district and Selekra-Kalsawan district.
SER General Manager Anil Kumar Mishra said it would take 18 to 20 hours to restore train movement on the tracks.
“The injured passengers were given medical attention in Barabhambu. They were sent to Chakradharpur for better treatment,” a senior SER official said.
The Railways has paid Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to the families of two passengers who died in the Howrah-Mumbai Express train accident. The two passengers who died were P Bikash and Ajit Kumar Samal, both from Rourkela in Odisha.
The railways also offered Rs 1 lakh compensation to each of the eight people who sustained minor injuries.
“A team headed by Railway Safety Commissioner will investigate the accident,” Indian Railways Chakradharpur senior deputy general manager Aditya Kumar Choudhary told PTI.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the state government is providing Rs 2 lakh each as compensation to the relatives of the train accident victims and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.
The opposition parties fiercely criticised the central government, accusing it of neglecting train safety.
Soren claimed that the railway infrastructure was on the verge of collapse.
Soren mocked the Indian Ministry of Railways, saying that the actual situation of the ministry was in stark contrast to its high-profile predictions.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also severely criticised the central government over the series of train accidents and questioned whether the central government’s callousness would never end.
Taking a dig at the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said: “How many more train accidents will it take for the NDA government to wake up?” The Congress party also criticised Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw after the train derailment, saying the “failed minister” had “overseen three accidents” killing 17 people since June but had “no accountability” in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new India.
Jharkhand Health and Disaster Management Minister Banna Gupta visited the accident site and told reporters that the Jharkhand government is extending full cooperation to the railway department.
“Such major accidents are worrying,” he said, urging the Centre to “strengthen infrastructure instead of talking about bullet trains”.
JMM legislator and Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren urged the JMM and Bharatiya Group workers to extend help to the district administration, launch rescue operations and provide water and food to the victims.
According to eyewitnesses, nearby villagers have rushed to the scene and are fully cooperating with the rescue work.
Due to the accident, the South African Railways cancelled 11 express and passenger trains, including Howrah-Titragarh-Kantabanj Express, Kharagpur-Jhargram-Dhanbad Express, Howrah-Babil-Howrah Janshatabdi Express, Tatanagar-Itwari Express and Shalimar-LTT Express.
Six other trains were forced to stop briefly or divert, the official said.
The Southeastern Railway has started a helpline for passengers.
(This article has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from United News Agency – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf）
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