At least 12 people were injured after a local train crashed into a halted express train and was derailed near Kacheguda railway station in Hyderabad, Telangana on Monday, the Hindustan Times reported. The Multi-Modal Transport Services or MMTS local train was travelling from the Falaknuma area to the city of Secunderabad.
“At least a dozen passengers in the coaches behind the engine suffered injuries due to the impact,” an unidentified South Central railway official said. “It would have been a serious accident if the MMTS was not running slow.”
The official claimed that the local train was given a green signal to arrive on platform number 2 of the railway station, but an inter-city express was already there. The MMTS train, which was slowing down, rammed into the express train a few metres away from the platform, he added.
The driver of the inter-city express, K Balakrishniah said that he started moving the train slowly after receiving the signal. “Information was sent to assistant and the guard to start the train,” he said, according to News18. “I saw the MMTS coming in the opposite direction and I immediately gave an emergency signal. Had I been on full speed, the accident would have been a much bigger one.”
The clash damaged the engine of the local train as three of its coaches derailed. The driver of the train, identified as Sekhar, reportedly suffered severe injuries and has been stuck near the train’s engine. Efforts to rescue him are currently under way.
The injured have been admitted to the hospital.
“Falaknuma MMTS service derailed due to collision with Secunderabad Hundry Intercity Express at 10.30 hours today [Monday] at Kacheguda railway station towards Falaknuma side,” South Central Railway said in a statement. “Six coaches of MMTS service and three coaches of Hundry Express have been affected while 12 passengers were injured, they were immediately rushed to Osmania General Hospital out of which two of them were discharged.”
The statement added that a high-level investigation would be conducted into the incident.
Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal described the mishap as “tragic news” and said that immediate instructions were sent to authorities. “Railway administration is extending assistance and have made arrangements for the treatment of the injured at the accident site,” he tweeted.
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