NEW DELHI: At least 11 people died in a rail accident in India’s western Maharashtra state on Wednesday when they disembarked from their train, fearing a fire, only to be hit by another train passing on the adjacent track, local media reported.

Railway officials told local media that someone had pulled the train’s alarm chain, causing it to come to a halt, after which several passengers deboarded onto the adjacent tracks and were mowed down by another passing train.

“As per the information, 11 people have died in the accident and 5 others are injured,” Praveen Gedam, a senior railways official in Nashik region, told ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said ambulances had been dispatched to the spot - located about 400 kilometres (250 miles)away from India’s financial capital Mumbai – and arrangements were being made to treat the injured.

“Emergency equipment like glass cutters, floodlights etc. have also been kept ready,” he said on messaging platform X.

Indian train collision death toll nears 300, another 850 injured

Indian railways is the fourth largest train network in the world and is undergoing a $30 billion upgrade, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to boost connectivity.

Rail accidents in the last two years, including a collision in 2023 that killed at least 288 people, have tarnished its image, however.

India plans to bump up spending on the modernisation of its railways in the federal budget, to be presented next month, Reuters reported earlier this week.