A train crash in eastern India on Friday was the country’s worst rail disaster in two decades, killing more than 280 people and raising questions about rail safety in a country investing heavily in the system in recent years after a long history of fatal accidents has.
According to an initial government report, around 7 p.m. local time on Friday, two passenger trains collided after one of them rammed a stationary freight train at full speed in Balasore district, Odisha state, causing it to derail. According to the train operator, at least 288 people were killed and more than 700 passengers were injured – 56 of them suffered “serious” injuries.
Some details about the cause of the crash have emerged, but much remains unclear. According to a preliminary assessment, it began when the first of the two passenger trains at full speed struck the stationary freight train and then derailed. A second passenger train, traveling in the opposite direction, then crashed into some of the slipped cars.
According to the railways, there were a total of more than 2,200 passengers on the passenger trains, and at least 23 wagons were derailed in the disaster. The force of the collision damaged the cars so badly that rescuers used cutters to get to the victims.
One of the trains was a Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express train, according to the South Eastern Railway. The Coromandel Express service is known for connecting the largest cities on the east coast of India at relatively high speeds. The other passenger train was a Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express train that ran from a commuter hub in Bangalore to Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal.
India’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said he had ordered an investigation into the cause and those affected by the crash would receive compensation.
The train derailed near Balasore.
The crash happened at Bahanaga Bazar train station near Balasore, a town near the coast in the northeastern state of Odisha known for its ancient temples and history as a 17th-century British seaport
Balasore is several hours drive from the nearest airport in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha. May is typically the hottest time of year, and in the days leading up to the crash, daily highs were around 100 Fahrenheit.
Officials said all hospitals in the area are on standby. A day of mourning has been declared in Odisha, home to 45 million people, and dozens of trains have been cancelled.
Derailments have become rarer.
Often referred to as the lifeline of India’s economy, the country’s extensive rail network is one of the largest in the world and is vital to life and livelihood in India, particularly in the more rural areas. According to a 2018 study published in the American Economic Review, almost all of India’s railway lines, namely 98 percent, were built between 1870 and 1930.
The deadliest accident in the history of Indian railways is believed to have occurred in 1981 when a passenger train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar state. His cars sank in the Bagmati River, killing an estimated 750 passengers; Many bodies were never recovered.
Derailments used to be common in India, averaging 475 per year from 1980 to around 2002. In the decade leading up to 2021, there were far fewer derailments, according to a publication by Railway officials presented at the World Congress on Disaster Management.
A railway worker cuts a railway line after a derailment in Pukhrayan, northeast India, in 2016. Credit: Jitendra Prakash/Portal
Overall, railway safety has improved in recent years, with the total number of serious train accidents falling steadily in fiscal 2020 to 22 from more than 300 a year two decades ago. As of 2020, India had recorded two consecutive years of zero passenger fatalities in rail crashes – a milestone Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government hailed as an achievement. By 2017, more than 100 passengers were killed each year.
Despite this, fatal accidents kept occurring. In 2016, 14 train cars derailed in the middle of the night in northeastern India, killing more than 140 passengers and injuring 200 others. Officials said at the time that a “break” in the tracks could have been to blame. In 2017, a nighttime derailment in southern India killed at least 36 passengers and injured 40 others.
Friday’s accident was at least the deadliest since a collision in 1995 about 125 miles from Delhi that killed more than 350 people.
Modi has made improving public transport a priority.
A key reason for the improved safety of trains was the abolition of thousands of unmanned level crossings, which Mr Modi’s government said was achieved in 2019. Also drastically reduced the relatively minor amount of engineering required to construct underpasses and set up more signal conductors in crashes.
Mr Modi has made it a priority to improve infrastructure, especially transportation systems, across the country. In recent years, the railways, one of the most visible projects for the common man, have attracted attention through a series of high-tech initiatives. Mr Modi has inaugurated medium-distance electric trains and is building a Japanese-style “bullet train” corridor on the west coast, to link Mumbai with Ahmedabad.
But instead of inaugurating a new train as planned, Mr Modi visited the scene of the train crash on Saturday.
A bullet train in Ahmedabad in September. Credit: Amit Dave/Portal
The train system, and train accidents in particular, have long influenced the fortunes of Indian politicians. The cabinet post of Minister of Railways is one of the most sought-after posts due to its high standing and influential in both business and industry. Suresh Prabhu, who is credited with designing New Delhi’s world-class metro system, was forced to resign from his post in September 2017 after a series of accidents.
Just hours after Friday’s disaster, some opposition politicians were already calling for the resignation of Mr. Vaishnaw, India’s railways minister.
Mujib Mashal contributed to the reporting.