NEW DELHI: A passenger train derailed in India on Thursday, overturning several carriages and killing at least one person with rescue and relief efforts ongoing.
India’s railway network remains the main form of travel in the vast country, but it is poorly funded and deadly accidents often occur.
The Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express, a 22-car passenger service that spans a 2,640-kilometre stretch of the country, derailed near the northern Hindu holy city of Ayodhya, at around 2:30 pm (0900 GMT).
“According to the preliminary information that we have received from the site, one has been reported dead and seven others are injured,” Indian Railways spokesman Pankaj Singh told reporters.
“Six have minor injuries while one has a grievous injury.”
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At least four carriages had overturned at the site of the accident in Gonda district, broadcaster NDTV reported.
Footage aired by the network showed passengers standing on top of a derailed compartment that had crashed onto its side.
“The train accident in Gonda district is extremely sad,” Uttar Pradesh state chief minister Yogi Adityanath posted on social media platform X.
“District administration officials have been directed to carry out relief and rescue operations on a war footing and to take the injured to the hospital,” he added.
“I pray to Lord Ram for the speedy recovery of the injured.”
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Anil Kumar Tiwari, chief medical superintendent of Gonda District Hospital, told AFP that a team of medics had been rushed to the accident site.
Modernisation
India has launched a $30 billion railway infrastructure modernisation in a bid to boost the economy and connectivity.
But analysts say that while accidents have reduced over time, India’s antiquated rail system still has a long way to go.
An average of 20,000 people died each year between 2017 and 2021 in rail accidents – collisions, derailments and other causes – according to official records.
Defective tracks, poor maintenance and old signalling kit combined with human error were the main cause of derailments, a report by India’s top audit authority said.
Last year nearly 300 people were killed when a passenger train and a stationary goods train collided, with the derailed compartments then striking another fast-moving passenger service.
India’s worst-ever rail accident occurred in 1981, when a cyclone blew a train off its tracks and into a river in the state of Bihar, leaving 800 dead and more than 100 injured.
Indian Railways, the world’s fourth-largest rail network, runs some 14,000 trains daily with 8,000 locomotives over a vast system of tracks some 64,000 kilometres (40,000 miles) long.
The trains carry more than 21 million people each day.
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