One killed in train-tempo collision in Assam

One person was killed and another injured on Sunday when a tempo carrying them was hit by a train at an unauthorized level crossing in Lower Assam's Chirang district, an official said.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesman Nripen Bhattacharji told PTI that the tempo, while attempting to cross the tracks between Basugaon and Dangtol, came in the way of Dadra-Guwahati Express and got entangled to its engine.

The tracks were covered with mud in a way that vehicles could move over it, Bhattacharji said, adding that the collision did not have any impact on the train engine.

The railway officials had to stop train movement on the tracks for about an hour to disengage the tempo from the engine, he said.

Stating that trains have to pull brakes 300 metres before the halting point to avoid toppling over, the NFR spokesman clarified that drivers were not required to either slow down or stop at unauthorized crossings.

Bhattacharji also said that NFR has no unmanned level crossing in its areas of operation in Northeast, Bengal and Bihar.

"In several places, there are bridges over and under the tracks for pedestrian and vehicular movement, but the NFR does not maintain any unmanned level crossing," he added.