Nearly 800,000 passengers are said to be affected due to cancellations
A five-member team of senior railway officials investigating the derailment of Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express has blamed improper fastening of the rail track for the accident, sources said. One member of the panel disagreed with the opinion. "The fastening of rail track was not proper due to which fastening was working ineffectively," the report, written in Hindi, said. All the same, the Chief Public Relations Officer of the North Eastern Railway Zone, under which the accident site comes, told PTI that arriving at any conclusion based on the joint probe report was incorrect. "The investigation by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has already started and the first hearing took place on Friday. It will go into the details of every aspect of the accident with technical specifications and minute details. Many crucial things don't come in the joint probe so it is very premature," the CPRO said. Four people were killed and several injured on Thursday in the derailment of ...
A high-level inquiry has been initiated to ascertain the cause behind the derailment of the Assam-bound train from Chandigarh that killed 3 and injured over 3o passengers.
The death toll in the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailment in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda has risen to four, while 31 people were injured in the incident, an official said on Friday. Eight coaches of the train had derailed between Motiganj and Jhilahi railway stations, about 150 km from the state capital, on the Gonda-Gorakhpur section of the Northeast Railway on Thursday afternoon. District Magistrate of Gonda, Neha Sharma, said, "So far, four passengers have died and 32 are injured. Of the injured passengers, the condition of around half a dozen is critical." "The deceased include Rahul, 38, Saroj Kumar Singh, 31, and two unknown passengers. The body of one of the unknown passengers was retrieved on Friday morning," Sharma said. She said two of the critically injured passengers are undergoing treatment at Lucknow's trauma centre. Sharma said she was present at Mankapur Junction when a special train with 600 passengers of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express left for Assam on Thursday .
Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derails: The incident occurred near Jhilahi railway station near Gonda district, which is some 118 kilometres away from capital city Lucknow
The Commissioner of Railway safety has said the Kanchanjunga express accident involving a goods train was "waiting to happen" due to lapses at multiple levels in managing train operations in automatic signal zones, and "inadequate counselling" of loco pilots and station masters. In its probe report into the June 17 accident that left 10 persons dead, including the loco pilot of the goods train, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) also recommended implementation of the Automatic Train-protection system (KAVACH) on top priority. The CRS said wrong paper authority or T/A 912 to cross defective signals was issued to the loco pilot of the goods train involved by authorities concerned. Further, the paper authority didn't mention the speed that the goods train driver was supposed to follow while crossing the defective signal. Considering various lapses on part of the rail administration, the CRS said, "Due to improper authority and that too without adequate information, such an incide
Committee under RDSO prepping action plan to reduce signal failures
Coaches of an express train running between Nashik district and Mumbai got uncoupled at Kasara in neighbouring Thane on Saturday morning, in which no passenger was hurt, a railway official said. The train resumed its journey after 40 minutes when the coaches were re-attached, he said. The Panchavati Express train that began its journey from Manmad junction in Nashik district and was on its way to Mumbai, got uncoupled at Kasara railway station, about 128 km from Mumbai, Central Railway's chief public relations officer Swapnil Nila said. The incident occurred when the train was moving out of the Kasara station around 8.40 am, he said. "The train was uncoupled between coach number four and five. We will check why the coaches got uncoupled," he said. The uncoupled coaches were again attached and the train left for further journey within 40 minutes, Nila said. "The coupling between the two coaches was not broken. If it was not intact, the train would not have left for Mumbai within
The majority opinion held that the accident may have occurred due to non-following of rules regarding passing automatic signals at danger position and possible excessive speed of the goods train
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has reviewed the progress of the advanced version of the Automatic Train Protection System (ATP) Kavach 4.0 at the Rail Bhawan here, officials said on Monday. Kavach 3.2 version is being installed on approved high-density routes, the railway officials said, adding that upgrading and installation of the latest version on new routes will go on simultaneously to cover a wider railway network in a shorter period. They said Vaishnaw reviewed the progress of Kavach 4.0 on June 22. "The three manufacturers of Kavach who are in the advanced stage of testing version 4.0 presented its progress report to the minister," a senior railway official said. After reviewing it, the minister directed that Kavach installation be taken up in a planned manner in mission mode as soon as it is ready, he added. The railway ministry maintains that the development of Kavach is a significant milestone in railway safety. In the past, Vaishnaw stated on several occasions durin
Kavach is an automated train protection safety system designed to prevent collisions on the same track. The Railway Ministry is working on its installation on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes
The East Central Railway has directed station masters in its area not to issue the note that authorises train drivers to cross signals in case of failure of the automatic signalling system, days after the Kanchanjunga Express-goods train collision in another zone killed 10 people. The decision to suspended the issuing of the T/A 912 written authority letter was taken at a safety meeting of the East Central Railway (ECR), according to a circular issued by the zone on June 21. On June 17, the goods train rammed into the passenger train in West Bengal's Darjeeling District that falls under the Northeast Frontier Railway zone. Drivers of both trains had been issued the T/A 912 as the automatic signalling on the Ranipatra station-Chattar Hat Junction was "defective", officials had said. While the Railway Board in its initial response had said the now-deceased goods train was over-speeding, driver unions have claimed there is no speed restrictions mentioned on the note and its member was
The initial probe into the June 17 Kanchanjunga Express accident has suggested there were lapses by the operating department of the New Jalpaiguri Rail Division and the crew of the goods train that hit the passenger train. At least 10 people were killed, including the passenger train's guard and the pilot of the goods train after it rammed into the stationary Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express in West Bengal's Darjeeling district on Monday. The collision occurred near Rangapani station, 30 km from New Jalpaiguri station, causing four rear compartments of Kanchanjunga Express to derail due to the impact by the goods train's locomotive at 8.55 am, the official said. Soon after the accident, Railway Board chairperson Jaya Varma Sinha had said the collision took place because the goods train disregarded the signal. The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has started a probe into the cause of the accident. The railways also set up a probe team of six senior officials who have filed the
Despite substantial previous Budget allocations, incidents like the Kanchanjunga Express collision with a goods train in West Bengal highlight ongoing concerns
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Accusing the government of "destroying" Indian Railways, the Congress on Tuesday demanded Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's resignation in the wake of the Kanchanjunga Express accident and said that he has no moral right to remain in the position. The opposition party also took a swipe at Vaishnaw for reaching the accident site riding pillion on a motorcycle, asking whether he is a rail minister or a "reel minister". Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said whenever there is a train accident, Modi government's railway minister reaches the spot under the glare of cameras and behaves as if everything is fine. "Narendra Modi ji, tell us who should be held accountable, the Railway Minister or you?" the Congress chief asked. Kharge posed seven questions to the government and demanded answers. After a major accident like Balasore, why was not even a single kilometer of the much-hyped "Kavach" anti-train collision system added, he asked. "Why are nearly 3 lakh posts vacant in the ..
The unaffected coaches of the Kanchanjunga Express, which was hit by a goods train near New Jalpaiguri, leaving 10 dead and several injured, arrived at Sealdah station here on Tuesday morning with nearly 850 passengers, according to an Eastern Railway official. At least four rear coaches of the train were severely damaged in the collision at Rangapani, about 10 km from New Jalpaiguri station, on Monday morning. "Around 800 to 850 passengers arrived at Sealdah at 3.16 am," ER spokesperson Kausik Mitra said. The unaffected coaches began their onward journey from the accident site on Monday afternoon. The passengers were provided with medical facilities, food, and water at various stations, including Malda Town and Sealdah, he added. Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, West Bengal Transport Minister Snehasis Chakraborty, and Divisional Railway Manager of Sealdah Division Deepak Nigam were present at Sealdah station to help passengers reach home safely, Mitra said. Train 13174 Kanchanjunga .
A passenger who was present on the train when it met with an accident expressed concern and fear as she recalled the tragic incident
Longer-term trend shows decline in number of incidents
The railway ministry is in process of floating tenders for Kavach integration for over 10,000 rkm, and has completed track-side infrastructure work on over 6,000 rkm, a top government official said