Nine persons were killed and nearly 40 others were injured on Monday after two trains collided near the New Jalpaiguri railway station in West Bengal, Reuters reported quoting a senior police official.
The accident occurred when a goods train collided with the Kanchanjunga Express, which was bound for Sealdah from Agartala. Due to the collision, three rear compartments derailed at around 9 am in the Northeast Frontier Railway zone, PTI reported.
The chairman of the Railway Board, Jaya Varma Sinha, said that the cause of the accident prima face seemed to be human error.
“The first indications suggest that this is a case of signal disregard,” said Sinha, according to ANI.
She said that the loco pilot who allegedly disregarded the railway signal and the guard of the Kanchenjunga Express died in the accident.
Sinha also said that Kavach, an anti-train collision system, was being integrated on railway routes throughout the country on a “mission mode”, adding that it was being planned for West Bengal this year.
The Kavach sounds an alert when a loco pilot jumps a railway signal, a leading cause of train collisions. It automatically activates the train braking system if the driver fails to control the train as per the speed restrictions.
Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a social media post that rescue operations were ongoing at a “war footing”. He said that officials of the railway ministry, the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force were in close coordination.
“Injured are being shifted to the hospital,” he said. “Senior officials have reached the site.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the families of those who died and said that the railway minister was on his way to the site of the accident.
“Spoke to officials and took stock of the situation,” he said in a post on social media. “Rescue operations are underway to assist the affected.”
Vaishnaw said that compensation of Rs 10 lakh each would be provided to the families of those who died in the accident. The injured would get Rs 2.5 lakh each while those who sustained minor injuries would receive Rs 50,000 each as compensation.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also said that action was being taken at the site on a war footing.
“DM [district magistrate], SP [superintendent of police], doctors, ambulances and disaster teams have been rushed to the site for rescue, recovery, medical assistance,” she said on social media.
The accident on Monday took place more than a year after 288 passengers were killed and around 900 injured when three trains collided with each other in Odisha’s Balasore on June 2, 2023. This was one of the worst train accidents in India.
The Indian Railways subsequently said that the Kavach was not available on the route in Balasore where the accident took place.
Corrections and clarifications: This article has been edited to reflect the latest toll. The earlier version had quoted an official who gave a higher figure.
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