Page 11 - Train Accident

CBI probe recommended into Odisha train accident, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

MHA assisting us, no officers absconding right now: Railway Board

Odisha train accident: Even ticketless travellers will receive compensation

The railways on Sunday said that even ticketless travellers on board the passenger trains involved in the Odisha accident will receive compensation. This is in line with a Supreme Court order, officials said. "Irrespective of the passengers being ticketless (or not), they will receive compensation," railway spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said. Speaking to reporters, Jaya Verma Sinha, Member of Operations and Business Development of the Railway Board, said that every patient admitted in hospitals have a scout or a guide with him to help his kin to track him. Verma further said the helpline number 139 is available in which senior rail officers are answering calls and are trying to connect with as many people as possible. "The family members of the injured or deceased can call us and we will make sure that they are able to meet them. We will take care of their journey and other expenses," she said. The railways also said that the 139 service will continue uninterrupted and will ensure .

Stung by Lalu's remark on train crash, Ravi Shankar talks of scams

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday raked up scams during Lalu Prasad's tenure as Railway Minister, a day after the RJD president blamed the Balasore triple train crash on "negligence" of railways by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. The former Union minister was replying to questions from journalists at a press conference organised at the BJP's Bihar headquarters to showcase the Modi government's achievements in nine years. When pointed out that Prasad had, on the previous day, spoken of "negligence" and accused the Modi government of having "destroyed railways", Prasad shot back that the former Bihar CM was embroiled in a number of scams and was busy securing bail. "His achievements as Railway Minister are there for all to see. He is facing investigations in the land for hotels scam and the land for jobs scam, and busy securing bail in both cases", quipped Prasad, a former law and justice minister. He also criticised opposition parties for "indulging in ...

Balasore train accident: Main line tracks repaired, CBI probe recommended

: The Railway Board has recommended a CBI probe into the Balasore train accident that has so far claimed 275 lives. We have recommended a CBI probe into the triple train accident that claimed 275 lives and left over 1,000 injured, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Sunday evening. The Centre along with the support of the state government are giving all support to the injured patients who are admitted to various hospitals in Balasore, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Patients are being given all facilities in hospitals. There are teams of doctors who are taking care of patients round-the-clock, Vaishnaw said. He said the government was trying to get in touch with the families of the deceased. We are trying to get in touch with families of the dead, the Minister added. The Odisha government on Sunday revised the triple train accident's death toll to 275 from 288, and put the number of injuries at 1,175. Chief Secretary P K Jena said some bodies were counted

Balasore train accident: Mamata Banerjee questions official death toll

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday questioned the death figures given by the Ministry of Railways in the triple train crash in Odisha's Balasore, stating that 61 people from her state were dead and 182 were still missing. Banerjee asked questions on whether Vande Bharat engines were up to the mark. "If from one state, 182 are missing and 61 are confirmed dead, then where would the figures stand?" she asked, addressing a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna. At least 275 people were killed and 1,175 injured in the triple train accident in Balasore, according to officials. Three trains Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah super fast and a goods train were involved in Friday's accident, now being described as one of India's worst train accidents. Stating that Duronto Express trains introduced during her tenure as the railway minister were "pushed out of priority", Banerjee asked whether the Vande Bharat Express trains' engines were up

Tracks at Balasore train accident site repaired, says Ashwini Vaisnaw

Government on Sunday said that both the Up and Down railway tracks at Balasore accident site have been repaired. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted that track linking Up-line has been restored and overhead electification work has also started. "Track linking of Up-line has been done at 16.45 hours. Overhead electrification work started," Vaishnaw tweeted on Sunday. He had earlier tweeted that the down line which links Howrah has been restored. Officials said this implies that at least one set of railway tracks were now fit for trains, but more time will be required to fix all tracks, which include loop lines, at the Balasore accident site. However, till the overhead electric cable are repaired, only diesel locomotives can be run on the two line which have been repaired. Once the overhead electric lines are repaired, electric trains can start plying. They indicated that this would take another three days. Three trains Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah

Train accident: Gautam Adani takes responsibility to educate orphaned kids

Billionaire Gautam Adani on Sunday offered to provide free school education to children who lost parents in the country's deadliest train crash in decades, saying the train accident in Odisha was deeply disturbing. In a tweet, Adani, who heads a conglomerate that spans ports to energy, commodities, airports and data centres, said it is a joint responsibility of all to support the victims and their families and give a better tomorrow to the children. "We are all deeply disturbed by the train accident in Odisha. We have decided that the Adani Group will take care of the school education of the innocents who have lost their parents in this accident. It is the joint responsibility of all of us to support the victims and their families and give a better tomorrow to the children," he said in a tweet in Hindi. The deadliest rain accident in nearly three decades left nearly 300 dead and hundreds injured.

Over 1,500 people stuck at station in Bengaluru following train mishap

More than 1,500 passengers including a large number of labourers are stranded at the Byappanahalli Railway Station here due to the cancelled trains as a fallout of the train derailment in Odisha. With a big crisis unfolding at the Byappanahalli, the labour department and the Bengaluru civic agency on Sunday arranged food, water and mobile toilets for the passengers stuck at the railway station. On the directions of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the government departments joined hands to provide basic facilities including food and water to the stranded labourers and passengers whose trains to Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and other north-eastern states have been cancelled. Various social organisations too joined to serve the passengers stuck at the railway station.

Govt says rescue operations concluded after worst train crash in decades

The death toll from Friday evening's crash was revised down from 288 after it was found that some bodies had been counted twice, said Pradeep Jena, chief secretary of Odisha

Isn't non-compliance of CAG 2022 report enough for minister to resign: NCP

The NCP on Sunday sought to know why the measures suggested in the 2022 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to prevent train disasters were not implemented by the Centre, and asked if this non-adherence was not enough for Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to resign in the wake of the Odisha train tragedy. The party also alleged that as per the CAG report, train accidents were waiting to happen due to several shortcomings, but the railway ministry and the minister failed to take this warning seriously. The Odisha train crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying around 2,500 passengers, and a goods train occurred around 7 pm on Friday near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore. At least 288 people died and over 1,100 injured in the accident, the worst rail accident in India in nearly three decades. The tragedy has triggered a debate over the Kavach anti-collision system with the opposition parties,

Odisha govt revises triple train accident's death toll to 275 from 288

The Odisha government on Sunday revised the triple train accident's death toll to 275 from 288, and put the number of injuries at 1,175. According to Chief Secretary P K Jena, some bodies were counted twice. "After detailed verification and a report by Balasore District Collector, the final toll has been fixed at 275," he said. Jena said the injured are being treated in different hospitals in Soro, Balasore, Bhadrak and Cuttack. "So far, 793 passengers have been discharged and 382 are being treated at government cost," he said. Jena said 88 bodies have been identified so far and 78 handed over to their families while 187 were yet to be identified. The chief secretary said proper identification of the bodies was the biggest challenge. "DNA sampling will be done and photographs of the deceased will be uploaded on government websites," he said. Jena said 9 teams of NDRF, 5 ODRAF units and 24 fire services teams were engaged in the rescue operations, which are now complete. He said

Odisha train crash: Driver error ruled out, possible sabotage being probed

The railways on Sunday virtually ruled out driver error and system malfunction, indicating a possible "sabotage" and tampering of the electronic interlocking system behind the triple train accident that claimed at least 288 lives in Odisha. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the "root cause" of the accident and the "criminals" responsible for it have been identified. "It happened due to a change made in the electronic interlocking and point machine," he told reporters at the site of the accident in Balasore district. Here in Delhi, top railway officials explained how the point machine and the interlocking system function. They said the system is "error proof" and "fail safe" but did not rule out the possibility of outside intervention. "It is called a fail safe system, so it means that even if it fails, all the signals will turn red and all train operations will stop. Now, as the minister said there was a problem with the signalling system. It could be that someone has done so

Goa: StartUp20 Engagement Group delegates condole Odisha train tragedy

The two-day meeting of the StartUp20 Engagement Group, part of India's G20 presidency, culminated in Goa on Sunday with delegates expressing solidarity with victims of the Odisha train accident. At least 288 people were killed and more than 1,100 injured in the crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train took place on Friday evening near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha's Balasore district. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the StartUp20 Engagement Group meeting in Goa, Ashish Sinha, joint secretary, Union Ministry of External Affairs, said the meeting took place in a sombre environment because of the train accident on Friday. All the delegations expressed condolences to the victims, their families and also wished a speedy recovery to the injured people, he said. He said there is a norm in the G20 meetings that foreign delegates are given an introduction about the local culture, for which programmes

Odisha police warns against giving communal colour to triple train tragedy

Odisha Police Sunday appealed to all sections to desist from circulating rumours giving a communal colour to Balasore's triple train accident where at least 275 people have died and over 1,100 injured. The Odisha police also warned that severe legal action will be initiated against those found trying to create communal disharmony by spreading any rumor. Taking to twitter, the Odisha police said: It has come to notice that some social media handles are mischievously giving a communal colour to the tragic train accident at Balasore. This is highly unfortunate. It added,"We appeal to all concerned to desist from circulating such false and ill-motivated posts. Severe legal action will be initiated against those who are trying to create communal disharmony by spreading rumours." Among other social media messages were some which linked a structure near the rail accident site with a particular community, which many others have condemned.

Fatigued, shocked Tamil Nadu train accident survivors recount trauma

For several survivors of the Odisha train accident who arrived here on Sunday in a special train, the trauma they endured is unlikely to dissipate soon and it was more than shock and disbelief for them. A woman, who is a native of Kerala said she had only seen accidents on televisions and when she experienced it herself, she was terrified. "The bed sheets given to passengers were used to carry the injured and it turned red with blood; a dreadful scene," she told reporters here. The general compartment was overpacked well beyond its capacity, she said recalling what she said she saw. Wearied by the tragedy and the long journey as well, a man said seeing blood, severed limbs and bodies of men and women lying scattered was tormenting. Another passenger who was injured said: "I was asleep in compartment S-1. All of a sudden I heard a bang and before I could realise what happened I almost fainted after something like a rod hit the side of my rib cage." He was taken away in a wheelchair

TMC, BJP exchange barbs over Odisha's Balasore triple train accident

A war of words between the TMC and BJP over the triple train accident in Odisha's Balasore intensified Sunday, with TMC reiterating its demand for the resignation of railway minister Ashwani Vaishnaw and BJP reminding the party that railway accidents had occurred during Mamata Banerjee term as railway minister. TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh tweeted Sunday, that the Balasore train pile up reveals that anti-collision devices have not been fitted to trains and cannot be compared to an accident which happened during Banerjee's watch at Rail Bhavan. "The Balasore train accident must not be conflated with the Jnaneswari Express derailment incident the former exposes the lack of anti-collision devices, while the latter involved Maoist activities, which, thanks to Hon'ble CM @MamataOfficial's proactive measures and strategic approach, are a thing of the past," Ghosh tweeted. The TMC had made the demand for Vaishnaw's resignation on Saturday, to which an angry BJP's Suvendu ...

Virtual clean chit to Coromandel Express driver, was not over-speeding

The railways on Sunday said the Coromandel Express was "not over-speeding" and received the green signal to enter a loop line on which a goods train was stationary, virtually clearing its driver of any role behind the accident that killed 288 people in Odisha's Balasore district. Two key officials of the Railway Board -- Principal Executive Director of Signalling Sandeep Mathur and Member of Operation and Business Development Jaya Varma Sinha -- explained how the accident might have occurred. They described the functioning of the interlocking system which prima facie seemed to have been part of the problem which led to the accident, in which at least 288 people were killed. Sinha said the direction, route and signal were set for the Coromandel Express. "Green signal means that in every way the driver knows that his path ahead is clear and he can go forward with his permitted maximum speed. The permitted speed at this section was 130 kmph and he was running his train at 128 kmph whi

Odisha train accident: UK Foreign Secretary expresses condolences

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the Odisha train tragedy which left over 280 people dead. The crash in Odisha's Balasore district involving three trains is one of the worst rail accidents in India in nearly three decades. The accident on Friday left over 280 people dead and more than 1,100 others injured. Tragic news of the train crash in India. My heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. My thoughts are with the survivors and emergency services, said Cleverly. Lord Tariq Ahmad, the UK Foreign Office Minister for South Asia who has just returned from a visit to India, also took to social media over the weekend to express his solidarity. Distressing scenes and reports from #OdishaTrainAccident in #India which has already claimed the lives of close to 300 people and with many injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those impacted as well as the emergency teams working on this tragic accident, ...

Odisha train tragedy: Initial probe indicates flaws in signalling system

She further explained that only the Coromandel Express was involved in the accident and fell on the down-line (the main line) on which the Yashwantpur Express was approaching

Train crash: PIL seeks to set up inquiry commission under retired SC judge

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre for setting up an inquiry commission headed by a retired apex court judge to probe the cause of the train accident in Odisha's Balasore district that has left 288 people dead. The plea filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari also sought directions to the Centre to immediately set up an expert commission headed by retired judge of the apex court and consisting of technical members to analyse and review the risk and safety parameters in the railway system and to suggest systematic safety modifications for strengthening Railway safety mechanism and submit its report to the court. The plea submitted that non-implementation of Kavach system at the earliest has resulted in a massive loss of life and damage of public property which imputes direct liability of gross negligence and breach of duty of care by respondent authorities. The enquiry commission headed by a retired apex court judge should conclude its probe in two ..