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
This is the fourth major rail accident in the past one year, including the triple train crash at Balasore, Odisha, in June 2023, claiming 293 lives
Kanchanjungha Express West Bengal train accident latest news: Five passengers were left dead after a freight train crashed into the Kanchanjunga Express from behind in West Bengal's New Jalpaiguri
A viral video of Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw explaining the capabilities of Kavach has sparked renewed scrutiny
The automatic signalling system between Ranipatra Railway Station and Chattar Hat Junction in West Bengal, where a goods train hit Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express in the rear, was defective since 5.50 in the morning, according to a railway source. "Train No 13174 (Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express) departed Rangapani station at 8:27 am and stopped between Ranipatra railway station and Chattar Hat due to automatic signalling failure from 5:50 am," the source told PTI. According to another railway official, when the automatic signalling system fails, the station master issues a written authority called TA 912, which authorises the driver to cross all red signals in the section because of the defect. "The station master of Ranipatra had issued TA 912 to Train No 1374 (Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express)," the source said. He added, "Around the same time, a goods train, GFCJ, departed Rangapani at 8:42 am and hit 13174 in the rear portion resulting from the derailment of the guard's coach, two ..
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will on Monday visit the train accident site in New Jalpaiguri to take stock of relief operations, an official said. At least 15 passengers died and 60 others were injured, after three rear coaches of the stationary Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express derailed on Monday morning as a goods train collided with it in West Bengal's Darjeeling district. "The chief minister is going to visit the accident spot in New Jalpaiguri to take stock of the relief operations," the official told PTI. The three rear compartments derailed under the impact of the collision from behind by the locomotive of the goods train near Rangapani station, about 30 km from North Bengal's New Jalpaiguri station, railway officials said.
Four coaches of the Sabarmati-Agra superfast train derailed in Ajmer, Rajasthan. No casualties have been reported so far and Ajmer station also issued a helpline number, 0145-2429642
A coach of an empty train caught fire at a railway yard in Maharashtra's Thane district in the wee hours of Saturday, an official from the Central Railway (CR) said. The blaze occurred around 1.20 am in the train parked at the railway yard in Badlapur, around 70-80 km from here, the CR spokesperson said. The train was on the Karjat bound loop line, he said. "While the coach was destroyed in the fire, there was no other damage or injury to any person. The Central Railway has ordered a probe by the assistant officers committee," the spokesperson said. The blaze was brought under control in an hour, he said. Following the fire, the overheard wires were switched off between Badlapur and Vangani stations, officials said. Meanwhile, commuters claimed that a few late-night local trains were halted midway due to the fire.
Earlier in the day, President Droupadi Murmu expressed grief and offered her condolences on the loss of lives and people injured in the train accident in the Jamtara district of Jharkhand
At least two persons were run over and killed by a train in Jharkhand's Jamtara district on Wednesday evening, police said. Jamtara sub-division police officer (SDPO) M Rahman told PTI that the accident took place near Kaljharia area in Jamtara district when some passengers got down from the train from the wrong side. "A local train coming on another line hit them," he said. "Bodies of two persons have been recovered so far. Search operation is on and the toll might increase," he said.
Siemens is manufacturing locomotives for Railways at the national transporter's factory in Dahod
A car can be seen missing collision with a train by a narrow margin, driving inches away from an incoming Indian railway train. Watch the video here
A pile of wrecked coaches near Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Odisha's Balasore district serves as a grim reminder of the world's deadliest triple train tragedy which claimed nearly 300 lives and left over 1,200 people injured. Despite six months having passed since the incident on June 2, it remains vivid in the minds of people travelling along the Kolkata-Chennai route. The accident involved three trains - Coromandel Express, Yeshwantpur-Howrah SuperFast Express and a stationary goods train. The administration's biggest challenge was identification of bodies as they were mutilated and beyond recognition. In a first for train accidents, the government conducted DNA sampling of bodies, comparing them with DNA samples of claimants' relatives. The year also saw the murder of cabinet minister Naba Kishore Das by a policeman on January 29. ASI Gopal Das was arrested and trial is underway. Odisha politics revolved around VK Pandian, a 2000-batch IAS officer, who became one of the m
The Railway Ministry has made a payment of Rs 51.37 crore as ex-gratia and compensation amount to the next of kin and victims of the Balasore train tragedy, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The Balasore train accident caused the deaths of 296 passengers and over 1,200 were injured. Vaishnaw's response came after two BJD MPs, Sulata Deo and Niranjan Bishi, asked if the ex-gratia compensation announced by the Railways for the victims has been paid. Payment of ex-gratia has been made to the victims of the Balasore train tragedy. An amount of Rs. 51.37 crores has been paid as ex-gratia and compensation to the next of kin/victims of Balasore tragedy, Vaishnaw said in a written reply. The accident took place on June 2 when the Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary freight train at Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore and some of its derailed coaches fell onto the adjacent tracks and collided with the oncoming Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express. The ...
Two subway trains collided in heavy snow in Beijing, sending 515 people to the hospital, including 102 with broken bones, authorities said Friday. The accident occurred Thursday evening in Beijing's mountainous west on an above-ground portion of the sprawling subway system's Changping line. Slippery tracks prompted automatic braking on the leading train. A train following from behind was on a descending section and went into a skid and was unable to brake in time, the city transport authority said in a statement Friday on its social media account. Emergency medical personnel, police and transport authorities responded, and all passengers were evacuated by about 11 p.m., it said. Twenty-five passengers were under observation and 67 remained hospitalized on Friday morning, the authority said. Unusually heavy snow that began falling on Wednesday has prompted the suspension of some train operations and school closures. Alerts remain in place for icy roads, extreme cold and further ...
In recent years, the railways has been able to curtail consequential accidents, defined as the ones that cause loss of life, several injuries, and loss of rail property and stoppage of rail traffic