Boulder hits Sabarmati Express engine near Kanpur
Image credit Special Arrangement
No injuries in Sabarmati Express derailment near Kanpur
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, August 17: Early reports claimed that there is no casualty in the Sabarmati Express train derailment in the early hours of Saturday near Kanpur. The Ministry of Railways has shared helpline numbers.
“Derailment of Sabarmati Express in block section between Kanpur and Bhimsen station has been reported. The driver (loco Pilot) is saying that boulder hit the engine and the cattle guard of the engine got badly damaged/ bent,” a senior official of the Ministry of Railways said.
The railway official stressed that there is no injury to any of the passengers in the incident. Six trains have been cancelled after the mishap. Routes of another three trains have been diverted.
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The Railways has issued a number of helplines. The helpline number for Kanpur is 0512232016. The Railways rushed buses to ferry passengers to Kanpur from the accident site.
There has been a spate of derailment incidents in the Railways in the past few weeks. Almost a month ago, the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express had derailed near Gonda in Uttar Pradesh.
A report on the cause of the Gonda train mishap had blamed the conditions of the track for the derailment of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express train. The Railways had initially said that the loco pilot had heard a loud noise before the derailment of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express near Gonda in UP.
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The Saturday mishap involving the Sabarmati Express is second incident in UP within a month of derailment of trains. The Kanpur section is known to be busiest of the rail routes in the country.
Last month, the Kanchanjunga Express was involved in a train mishap near Darjeeling after a goods train hit the passenger rake from behind on a rainy morning. Afterwards, probe pinned blame on wrong interpretations of written instructions given to loco pilots by the station master.
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Last year, the three mishap involving trains in Balasore in Odisha had left 297 passengers dead. The spate of rail accidents brought spotlight on safety.
The Opposition accused the government of compromising on the rail safety. Citing data of train derailments, the Congress had claimed that there is no accountability in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for ensuring safety of rail passengers.
Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, while replying to the debate on demand for grants, had said that the rail safety record improved under the Modi government. Vaishnaw said that the Union Budget for 2024-25 allocated ₹1.10 lakh crore for rail safety.
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