First major rail mishap with 3 trains in 16 months leaves over 50 dead
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, June 2: In a shocking rain incident involving three trains, over 50 passengers have reportedly died after multiple coaches derailed near Balasore in Odisha on Friday evening. The accident, baffling to experts, involved a long distance passenger express train colliding with a station goods trains, and another passenger train crashing into the derailed coaches.
“At around 7 pm, 10-12 coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed near Baleswar and fell on the opposite track. After some time, another train from Yeswanthpur to Howrah dashed into those derailed coaches, resulting in the derailment of its 3-4 coaches,” said Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma.
The railway bulletin first noted that seven coaches of Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express first capsized, including four of the falling outside rail boundary. A
total of 15 coaches derailed of the ill-fated train, said an initial assessment of the South-eastern railway, pegging death toll at more than 30. It also added that two coaches of derailed Yeswanthpur-Howrah also derailed.
The first team of the National Disaster Relief Force consisting of 22 members first reached the accident site, while another two units were pressed into the service. Injured persons were rushed to Medical College Balasore, said an official.
Incidentally, this is the first major rail mishap in the last 16 months involving casualties at such a high scale. Last major rail mishap had taken place on January 13, 2022 when Guwahati-Bikaner train had met with an accident, which had left nine dead after 12 coaches had derailed.
Railway experts have long been calling for replacement of the conventional coaches of trains with LHB coaches, arguing that the old coaches are prone to derail. Also, most trains in India are stated to be equipped with anti-collision devices, which have been credited lately for lesser train mishaps. It may be recalled that the last major train mishap took place in 2016 when Indore-Patna Express had derailed, which had left over 150 passengers dead.
The officials were tight-lipped for reasons of three trains getting involved in the mishap on Friday. Ironically, the Railway Minister Aswini Vaishnaw had briefed the media of the achievements of the railways in the nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
West Bengal and Odisha Chief Ministers have pressed in service the rescue and relief teams of their respective state governments. “Shalimar-Coromondel Express, carrying passengers from West Bengal, collided with a goods train near Balasore today evening and some of our outbound people have been seriously affected/ injured. We are coordinating with Odisha government and South Eastern Railways for our people’s sake,” West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said.
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