Page 8 - Train Accident

Rly Board posts vacancies in safety category, days after Balasore tragedy

The Railway Board on Monday directed its zones to launch a "special drive" to fill promotional vacancies especially in the safety category, a move that comes amidst criticism over vacant posts in the transportation behemoth following the Balasore three-train accident in which 288 people lost their lives. The internal order, accessed by PTI, has been sent to general managers of all railway zones and states that instructions have been issued by the Board from time to time emphasising the need for filling up promotional vacancies. "It has been reiterated that Railways should ensure making use of all modes of promotions such as Selection/Non-Selection/Trade Test/LDCE (Limited Departmental Competitive Examination)/GDCE (General Departmental Competitive Examination) liberally to fill up the vacancies timely by chalking out a suitable action plan for the same," it said. The order said that zonal railways should have by now assessed their vacancies and planned for filling them up as per the

Statsguru: Odisha three-train accident brings focus back on safety

The latest Budget shows that expenditure on railways has crossed Rs 5 trillion. The money spent on capital expenditure is close to 50 per cent, compared to around 37 per cent in 2017-18

Odisha train mishap: Trains won't stop at Bahanaga station till CBI's nod

No train will stop at the station till the CBI gives the green signal to the railway authorities, said Aditya Kumar Chaudhary, chief PRO, South Eastern Railway

Odisha train tragedy: Survivors show post-traumatic stress disorder

Even as many Balasore triple train accident survivors are recovering from physical injuries, around 40 of the 105 patients admitted in SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack are showing tendency of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), doctors said on Saturday. Considering the mental health condition of the survivors, the hospital has started counselling of all patients, Dr Jashobanta Mahapatra, associate professor of Clinical Psychology Department, said. Dr Mahapatra said it was natural for such an accident to have severe impact on the minds of the survivors. "Many were found to be severely stressed, fearful, panicked at times and silent. We are counselling them and talking to them along with their family members," he said. Dr Mahapatra said the hospital has set up four teams to counsel the survivors. "Each team comprises a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a social worker and one or two members of the patient's family," he said. The survivors often wake up from their sleep af

Odisha accident: Civil societ flags efforts to undermine India's security

A group of prominent civil society members, including retired judges, bureaucrats and veterans, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday over the Odisha train tragedy, raising concerns over efforts to "undermine" India's national security and progress. The letter has been signed by 270 signatories. "We are greatly disturbed by the tragedy that has taken place in Balasore, Orissa involving our rapidly growing and modernizing Railways. Although investigation is still underway, as per initial media reports, there are reasons to suspect that the cause of the derailment could be deliberate human interference, a clear case of sabotage at the behest of terrorist outfits," they have said in the letter. The letter said some of the signatories have worked in Jammu and Kashmir and in the northeast where they faced such situations of sabotage on the smooth plying on the railway network. "There were similar well-planned attempts by terrorists to disrupt railway networks in these ...

A hurtling mass of finality

Trains have long been a significant element in Indian cinema, symbolising urgency, escape and opportunity, and sometimes invoking a sense of inevitable finality

Jaipur Foot offers prosthetic limbs to victims of Odisha train accident

The makers of 'Jaipur foot' has offered to provide prosthetic limbs to those who have lost their legs in the recent Odisha train accident Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) founder D.R. Mehta, in a letter to the Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav, has offered to serve the amputee free of cost, a release said. In his letter, Mehta said the artificial limb fitment facility will be provided at its Khrodah centre near Bhubaneswar free of cost. All such passengers, who lost their limbs in the tragic rail accident, would be able to get the fitment three months after the amputation as it takes about months for the wounds to heal, he said. Alternatively, the BMVSS mobile workshop at Khodarh would reach the various towns and villages in Odisha to serve the amputees, thus they would be able to get the limb fitment at their doorsteps, he added.

Students scared to join school which turned into morgue for train accident

Students of Bahanaga High School in Odisha are scared to return to their classes in the building which was turned into a temporary morgue after the triple train crash which killed 288 passengers. Soon after the crash on June 2, shrouded bodies were carted to this 65-year-old school building. Such is the reluctance of the young students and their parents to come back to a building associated with tragic mass death that the school management committee (SMC) has pleaded with the state government to demolish the building as it is old. Younger students are scared, admitted Bahanaga High School Headmistress Pramila Swain, adding that the school planned to conduct spiritual programmes and follow some rituals to help them overcome their fears. She said some senior students and NCC cadets from the school had even joined the rescue work. Balasore district collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, who visited the school on Thursday on the directions of the school and mass education department,

19 Bihar passengers missing, 50 dead in Odisha train accident, says DMD

At least 19 people from Bihar, who were on board the Coromandel Express, are still missing after the train accident in Odisha's Balasore district on June 2 in which 288 people were killed, said the state Disaster Management Department (DMD). The missing 19 Bihar passengers on board the Coromandel Express include four from Madhubani district, Darbhanga (2), Muzaffarpur (2), East Champaran (2), Samastipur (2), Sitamarhi (1), Patna (1), Gaya (1), Purnea (1), Sheikhpura (1), Siwan (1) and Begusarai (1), said a statement issued by the Disaster Management department. "At least 50 people from different Bihar districts have reportedly died and 43 sustained injuries in the Odisha train accident," the statement issued on Wednesday night said. Of the 50 people from Bihar who died in the train accident, nine are from Muzaffarpur district, Madhubani (6), Bhagalpur (7), East Champaran (5), Purnea (2), West Champaran (3), Nawada (2), Darbhanga (2), Jamui (2), Samastipur (3), Banka (1), Bewguisarai

Goods train kills six labourers sheltering under it in Odisha's Jajpur

At least six labourers were killed and two others critically injured in Odisha's Jajpur Keonjhar Road railway station after being run over by a goods train on Wednesday, an official said. The labourers had sheltered from heavy rain under the goods train when it started rolling. "There was a sudden thunderstorm. The labourers were working at a railway siding where a goods train was standing stationary. They sheltered under it but unfortunately, the goods train which did not have an engine attached to it started moving causing the accident," said a railway spokesperson. As a result, six of the labourers were killed and two were injured, he added. The injured persons were admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack. In a statement, the East Coast Railway said, The contractual labourers engaged by a contractor for railway work took shelter under the stabled rake to get protection from the wind and rain of Norwester near Jajpur Keonjar Road (station). The reserve rake with

Odisha train crash: Rlys use AI-powered portal to identify unclaimed bodies

The Railways is using an artificial intelligence-powered website and SIM card triangulation to identify the unclaimed bodies of the Odisha three train crash victims. Of the 288 people killed in the accident on June 2, as many as 83 bodies remained unclaimed as of Wednesday, officials said. The Railways initially called a team from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to the site to take thumbprints of the dead to ascertain their identity. "That did not work out since in most cases the skin of the thumbs were damaged and prints were difficult to take. Then we thought of identifying the bodies using Sanchar Saathi which is an AI-based portal," an official said. The recently launched Sanchar Saathi web portal was put to use to identify 64 bodies and it was successful in 45 cases, officials said. Sanchar Saathi allows customers to know the mobile connections issued in their name and also track and block their lost smartphones. This artificial intelligence-based portal

Up Coromandel Express leaves Shalimar 5 days after Balasore accident

: Five days after the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express met with an accident in Odisha's Balasore killing 288 people, the Up train chugged off from Shalimar station here at 3.25pm on Wednesday, five minutes behind the scheduled departure time. As soon as the train pulled in on platform 2, there was a mad scramble to get into the general compartment and soon every nook and cranny of the two general second class coaches got filled up with people and their luggage. Ranjit Mondal, whose son has been missing since the June 2 accident, boarded the train to go to Bhubaneswar to look for his son again. Mondal from Sandeshkhali said his 18-year-old son Dipankar had boarded the ill-fated train with his friends to look for a job in Chennai. His phone has been ringing since the accident but no one is picking it up. I spoke to him minutes before the accident. He is yet to be tracked and I decided to look for him again, he said. Swati Chamoli, who is also travelling in the train, said, I'm ..

Railway ministry releases helpline number to locate affected passengers

Apart from the helpline number shared by the Indian Railways, the Ministry of Railways on its Twitter profile has also shared some other helpline numbers, including Howrah, Kharagpur, Balasore

Cabinet condoles loss of lives in Manipur violence, Odisha rail accident

The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday condoled the loss of lives in the Manipur violence as well as the Odisha train accident and extended sympathies to the families of the victims, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet, Goyal said as the meeting commenced, the prime minister and other members of the cabinet condoled the loss of lives and extended sympathies to the families. Ethnic violence broke out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status. At least 98 people lost their lives and 310 were injured in the violence. The train accident in Balasore involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying over 2,500 passengers, and goods train laden with iron ore occurred around 7 pm on Friday near the Bahanaga Baz

Odisha train accident: Bihar revises death toll to 43, injured to 47

The department issued a data on Wednesday wherein 47 persons are injured and 18 persons are missing as well

Odisha train accident: 39 more bodies brought to AIIMS Bhubaneswar

Thirty-nine more bodies of those who lost their lives in the Balasore train accident were brought to AIIMS here so that these mortal remains could be handed over to their family members without any hassle after completion of the identification process, officials said on Wednesday. These bodies were taken from Balasore and kept in six hospitals in the city on Sunday but the bereaved family members are facing difficulties as they have been visiting various health facilities in search of their loved ones, they said. "Thirty-nine more bodies were received by AIIMS Bhubaneswar and put in refrigerated containers early on Wednesday," the official of the health facility said. There were initially 123 bodies in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, and of which, 71 were handed over to families. "With 39 more bodies shifted to AIIMs, we now have 91. The families searching for their loved ones need to visit here only," the hospital official said. The East Coast Railway on ...

Over 1,000 lives saved by Odisha people in Balasore train crash: Patnaik

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday claimed that the people of the state have saved over 1,000 human lives in the Balasore train crash as they swung into action immediately after the accident. People providing support to rescue operations and the long queues for blood donation are "sights rare but invaluable". He was speaking at a function where 1,205 medical officers joined the state government. After observing one-minute silence in memory of those who lost their lives in the tragedy, Patnaik said the efforts of locals have manifested the compassion and humanity of the people of Odisha. "Doctors, medical students, general public, and all had one thing in mind - Let's save life as many as we can. And we have saved more than a thousand lives. People providing support to rescue operations and the long queues for blood donation are sights rare but invaluable. I am proud of my people. I am proud of Odisha," the chief minister said. Recalling the train accident, the CM said

Train crash: LIC to open helpdesks at Bengal railway stations from Wed

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will open dedicated helpdesks at some railway stations in West Bengal from Wednesday to offer assistance to family members of those who lost their lives in the Balasore train accident for claim settlement. LIC Zonal Manager (East) Ajay Kumar said dedicated helpdesks at various railway stations, such as Howrah, Shalimar, Kharagpur and Medinipur, will be operational to offer spot assistance in addition to services from branches. "I am waiting for the list of the deceased from the railways so that we can contact their family members and deploy our resources for identification to settle claims. It will be an extended help to the family in this hour of crisis," Kumar told PTI. The life insurer had said it would expedite claim settlements to provide financial relief for the victims of the triple train accident in Odisha's Balasore on June 2. Over 275 people were killed and more than 1,100 passengers were injured in the train crash. More such ..

Odisha govt revises death toll in Balasore triple train crash to 288

The Odisha government on Tuesday revised the death toll in the Balasore train crash to 288. Speaking to reporters, Chief Secretary PK Jena said, 275 deaths were confirmed till Monday, and after verification of bodies, the figure was raised to 288. Jena said that 205 bodies of the the total 288 have been identified so far and handed over to their families. The remaining 83 bodies were kept at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar and other hospitals for identification, he said. "We have received many queries on the helpline numbers released by the government. We are optimistic that all bodies will be identified," Jena said. He said the state government was bearing the cost of treatment of the injured, and transportation of bodies to respective destinations. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sanctioned Rs 1.95 crore for ex-gratia payment to the families of 39 deceased persons from Odisha. According to the government, Rs 5 lakh will be given to the kin of each deceased persons as ex-gratia. The

Odisha train crash: Railway Minister Vaishnaw holds meetings with officials

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who returned to Delhi from Balasore in Odisha after reviewing the rescue and restoration work following the triple train accident, is holding a series of high-level meetings with officials here on Tuesday. After meeting senior Railway Board officials in the morning, Vaishnaw is now meeting general managers (GMs) and divisional railway managers of zonal railways. The virtual meeting which began at around 5 pm is expected to take a couple of hours to finish, sources said. In the meeting with the Railway Board officers, the minister instructed officials to draw out plans to make the railway network completely tamper proof from external elements, they said. On Monday, the Railway Board had issued instructions to all GMs to ensure that the protocol around the signalling systems are made tamper-proof. The train accident in Balasore involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying over 2,5