Train mishap leaves 15 dead in MP

The delay in installing adequate safety measures, including the Anti-Collision Device (ACD) system, over the railway network in the country led to another major train accident today, claiming 15 lives and leaving over 30 passengers injured.

The accident took place in Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh at around 4.45 am, when a goods train overshot the signal amid poor visibility following heavy rains and hit the front of the Indore-Gwalior Intercity Express, which was waiting at Bhaderwah station.

The accident took the overall toll of persons dead in train accidents so far this year to over 240. Heavy rainfall in the area has hampered rescue operations and the injured have been shifted to civil hospitals in Guna and Shivpuri, according to the railway ministry.

The ministry had installed the ACD system on over 1,700 km of the Northeast Frontier Railway in 2007 under a pilot project. But it could not implement the system, developed by the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd, across the entire 63,000-kilometre network, owing to its insistence on specifications of the system.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for the next kin of the dead, Rs 1 lakh for those with serious injuries and Rs 50,000 for those with minor injuries. Banerjee also announced jobs in railways for one person from each of the affected families. Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa visited the accident site along with senior officials of the Railway Board, West-Central Railways and North-Western Railways.