2 Train Derailments In Less Than 12 Hours; At Least 3 Dead, Including 6-Yr-Old

Adding to the rising number of train derailments this year, 13 coaches of the Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express derailed at 4:18 am today in Uttar Pradesh after it left the Manikpur station.

At least three people have been reported dead and nine injured. Among the deceased was a father-son duo who died on spot, the son being six years of age; a third person died at the hospital. Two of the wounded are said to be in critical condition.

According to Additional Director General (Law and Order), Anand Kumar, fractured railway track could have derailed the coaches, reports NDTV. The incident has disrupted the movement of trains on the Patna-Allahabad route.

“Patients have been admitted to Manikpur and Chitrakoot Hospital and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been closely monitoring the situation. Ashwani Lohani, railway board chairman, has been asked to rush to the spot,” said Anil Saxena, Railway spokesperson.

Railway Minister Goyal has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the family of the dead, Rs 1 lakh for those with grievous injuries and Rs 50,000 to the injured.

He said in a Tweet that immediate rescue and relief operations have started an inquiry ordered into the derailment. The minister attached helpline numbers to the Tweet.

Immediate rescue and relief operations started and an inquiry ordered into the derailment of Vasco De Gama – Patna Express at Manikpur, UP. My sincere condolences to the families of the deceased. pic.twitter.com/DJDbt5qkEa

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) November 24, 2017

14 wagons of a goods train derailed less than 12 hours ago

Less than 12 hours before the Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express derailment, 14 wagons of a goods train derailed in Odisha’s Khurda Road.

14 bogies of a coal laden goods train derailed near Jagatsinghpur
in Odisha pic.twitter.com/xV67OVK34u

— ANI (@ANI) November 24, 2017

The train was carrying imported coal and the accident occurred at around 5:55 am, about 45 km from Cuttack and about 38 km from Paradeep. No one was injured.

An Inquiry Committee has been set up by East Coast Railway (ECoR) General Manager Umesh Singh to find the reason for the derailment.

India’s trains are going off tracks; what is the government response?

One day ahead of the two derailments, the Office of the Railway Minister Tweeted a video highlighting the latest decisions taken by the government to make train journeys safer and more comfortable.

Transforming The Way India Travels: Govt’s recent decisions to make train journeys safer and more comfortable. pic.twitter.com/RzrBvVHSLO

— Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) November 23, 2017

Among other things, the video mentions trains to have “pleasant smelling deodoriser cum disinfectant”, but nowhere has the railway minister mentioned the 7,000 km tracks that are over 30 km old and need immediate repair.

However, the video does talk about launching a weekly train from Ghazipur station in Uttar Pradesh to Mata Vaishno Devi, Katra Station – despite India’s tracks being overburdened.

In August, former railway minister Suresh Prabhu had flagged off five new trains. The government continues to announce new trains even though tracks don’t have the required infrastructure to endure the burden.

193 people have died in train derailments in 2016-17 (the actual number is much higher as the data is till March 2017) but the focus is on bullet trains rather than fixing the existing trains and the tracks they run on.

Nearly 40,000 coaches need to be replaced, 80 bridges need to be rebuilt and 5,000 unmanned level crossings need to be removed.

Derailments have increased steadily in the past few months. In August-September alone, the frequency of derailments was one derailment every three days.

The Logical Indian community urges the railway ministry to take immediate measures to avoid train accidents. When lakhs of passengers use the mode of transportation every day, there should be no scope for negligence or inefficiency.

Also Read:

• Indian Railways Suffered 9 Derailments In Last 27 Days: An Analysis
• Why Are India’s Trains Going Off Tracks?

• Fact Check: Is The Rail Ministry’s Claim That Train Accidents Have Declined In The Last Three Years True?
• World Bank Gives Safety Tips To Indian Railways Owing To The Increasing Number Of Accidents Last Month