Safety goes off track, sends shivers down spine of travellers
NEW DELHI, JUN 18: The train accident involving the Kanchenjunga Express near New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal belies the railways’ claims on a safe train journey. At least nine passengers were killed and 40 others injured when a goods train smashed into Kanchenjunga Express from the rear.
This is the fifth such accident in the last three years. Speaking to this newspaper, some witnesses to the accident site described the scene as heart-wrenching and chaotic with three overturned coaches. Passengers were desperately seeking help amid the wreckage.
According to a passenger, the train stopped abruptly with a sharp jerk accompanied by a loud sound. Upon disembarking, he saw that the goods train hit their rake from behind.
“We were having tea when the train stopped suddenly with a jerk,” he said. A pregnant woman, traveling with her family, said she fell off her seat upon impact. “It felt like an earthquake. It took us some time to collect ourselves and understand what happened,” she said, sitting with her family in one of the air-conditioned sleeper coaches.
A passenger from Agartala, who was in coach number S6, said he felt a sudden jerk and the compartment screeched to a halt. “My wife, child and I somehow managed to come out of the mangled coach. We are currently stranded… The rescue operations also started quite late,” the passenger said.
For frequent train travelers, the accident is shocking and frightening. A corporate professional living in Delhi, Sohan Kumar, said: “It raises serious concerns about the safety protocols and operational integrity of the railway system, despite assurances from authorities about the safe trains.”
Reports said rescue teams swiftly arrived at the site and started their work of pulling out passengers. Railway officials have initiated an investigation, focusing on potential lapses in signaling or operational procedures.
A railway source said the Bikaner-Guwahati Express had derailed on January 13, 2022 near Jalpaiguri in which 9 passengers died and 40 others were injured. Another major train collision took place in Odisha’s Balasore on June 2, 2023 claiming 296 lives and injuring 800 others. The accident involved a train that collided with the Coromodnal Express. On August 26, same year, a major fire erupted in the Bharat Gaurav tourist train Madurai, killing 10 people and on October 10, 2023, the North East Express derailed in Bihar’s Buxar claiming the lives of four passengers and injuring more than 10 passengers. The year 2023 remained a year of many rail accidents. A train collided on October 29 in Vizianagar in AP resulting in the death of 13 passengers and injuries to 30.
In the current year, on February 17, a goods train derailed near Sarai-Rohilla in Delhi in which one person lost his life while on March 18, Sabarmati Express hit a goods train, leaving several people injured.
In Monday’s train accident, the preliminary investigations suggest that the accident could have been caused by the driver of the goods train who overshot the signal. The Railway Ministry has announced ex-gratia compensation to the families of the deceased and promised a thorough probe into the accident to ascertain the exact sequence of events and identify lapses in safety protocols. Despite many accidents, the railway authorities continue to claim overall improvement in safety measures. Officials said consequential accidents have decreased significantly from 2004-2013 to 2014-2023.
The recurrence of such accidents has sparked widespread criticism, with demands for immediate action to enhance safety measures and ensure accountability within the railway administration. Refuting allegations of increased train accidents, a railway official said that the number of consequential train accidents has declined.
During 2021-22 and 2022-23, a total of 48 and 35 consequential train accidents took place respectively. In 2024-25, four train accidents have taken place.
-The New Indian Express
