Goods train rams into Kanchanjungha Express; about 10 dead, over 40 hurt

Siliguri: The collision between a freight train and the rear of the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjungha Express at Rangapani on Monday, which claimed the lives of at least 10 people and injured about 44 passengers, conjured haunting memories of the devastating train disaster at Bahanaga Bazar Railway Station in Odisha on June 2 last year, where 293 lives were tragically lost.

The accident, the cause of which has been largely attributed to human error, occurred in Nirmaljyot, nestled between Rangapani and Chatterhat under the Phansidewa block in Siliguri. Among the deceased were the pilot of the goods train and the guard of the passenger train, stated officials of the Railways.

According to the Railway’s announcement, earlier in the evening, the collision claimed the lives of 9 people and left another nine individuals gravely injured with nearly 38 others suffering minor injuries.

“Prima facie, it appears to be a human error but we will know more after the inquiry,” Railway Board chairperson Jaya Varma Sinha told reporters. “Unfortunately, the driver (of the goods train) also perished in the accident…

So we have no authentic way of knowing what exactly happened. Whatever we can gather from the situation, it seems there was a disregard for the signal,” Sinha added.

The injured passengers were admitted to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

The incident occurred around 8:55 am on Monday, approximately 10 kilometres from the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station. The force of the collision derailed four coaches of the Express train and five wagons of the freight train, blocking train movements on both the Up and Down lines.

Alleging that the Railways have become “parentless”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to Siliguri to oversee the rescue works, on Monday claimed that the Railways was only keen on increasing fares and not improving passenger amenities and safety.

“Railways have become parentless. Due importance to the Railways is not being given by the present government. Railways is just about inaugurations and flowery words nowadays. Neither do they take care of passenger amenities and safety nor of Railway officials and workers. This government is only concerned about election manipulation, hacking and rigging. It is sheer mockery. They should give more time to governance,” Banerjee said while addressing media persons at the North Bengal Medical College, in Siliguri, on Monday.

Meanwhile, in a Northeast Frontier Railway release it was stated that Janak Kumar Garg, Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety, North East Frontier Railway will hold a statutory inquiry in connection with the collision. The inquiry will be held at ADRM, NJP’s chamber from 10 am on June 19 onwards. It stated that anyone having knowledge relating to the incident or any other related matter can appear and tender evidence or write to the chief commissioner of Railway Safety, Northern Circle, SafdarJung Railway Station Building, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi.

PM Modi expressed condolences, calling the incident tragic and stating his prayers for the swift recovery of the injured. In a post on X, Modi said the “Railway accident in West Bengal is saddening. Condolences to those who lost their loved ones”.

The Prime Minister’s Office has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed and an assistance of Rs 50,000 for those injured in the accident.

Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the spot to take stock of relief operations and announced compensation for the injured and kin of the deceased.

While Rs 10 lakh would be given to the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 2.5 lakh would be provided to the grievously injured and Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries, Vaishnaw posted on X.

“Initially, we are focusing on restoration. An enquiry will be conducted into the incident. Now, we are focusing on giving medical assistance to the patients and also trying to clear the ex gratia amount at the earliest,” said Vaishnaw.

The relief team reached the accident site within a short period to rescue and aid the injured passengers. Health camps were also set up to provide primary assistance to the injured passengers. District Administration, Police, Railways, NDRF, SDRF, BSF and Army pitched in carrying out rescue operations.

Siliguri Mayor Gautam Deb, MP of Darjeeling Raju Bista and Union minister Sukanta Majumder, among others, visited the accident site.

C V Ananda Bose, the Governor of Bengal visited NBMCH later in the evening.

Meanwhile, internal documents showed the goods train was allowed to cross all red signals as the automatic signalling had “failed”.

The document, a written authority called TA 912, was issued to the driver of the goods train by the station master of Ranipatra, authorising him to cross all red signals, a Railways source said.

The Railway Board said initial findings indicated that the goods train driver violated signal regulations and failed to adhere to operational norms of the faulty automatic signal system.

Responding to claims that the goods train driver was permitted to pass red signals, a senior Railway Board official clarified: “The TA 912 authorisation was issued to the driver. As per protocol, when encountering a red signal on the automatic system, the loco pilot should proceed cautiously at speeds not exceeding 15 kmph under good visibility conditions and 10 kmph under poor visibility.”

According to the Board, the driver exceeded the permissible speed limit, leading to a collision with the Kanchanjungha Express between Ranipatra Station and Chattar Hat Junction.

According to the eyewitnesses, the Kanchanjungha Express train was at a slow speed when it arrived in the area. Later, the train stopped due to some signalling issues. At that time, the freight train hit the Kanchanjungha Express train from the rear.

Reported the automatic signalling system was non-functional from 5:30 am on Monday in that section and a manual clearance system was in place.

The four compartments that were damaged included two goods compartments, one compartment for the specially-abled, the guard’s compartment, and one general compartment.

Anil Kumar, the loco pilot of the freight train from Patna, Ashish Dey; the guard of Kanchanjunga train from Ward number 32 in Siliguri; Vishal Mishra, a Railway worker, Sankar Mohan Das, Railway Mail Service personnel from Kolkata; Caleb Subba, Sub Inspector of Excise department, hailing from Gorubathan, Kalimpong, Name Bijay Kumar, resident of Kolkata died in the accident. Others who died in the accident haven’t been identified yet.

Rakesh Debnath, a passenger who was inside the train said: “I boarded the train from Agartala to Sealdah. Suddenly, we saw that a train had hit ours. I suffered an injury to my head. I was travelling in the B1 coach with my family. We are very scared.”

Saikat Mandal, another passenger from Jalpaiguri said: “It felt like I had just come back from the door of death. There must have been negligence on the part of the Railways.”

Arup Roy, who came from Burdwan said: “I suffered an injury on my leg. There are seven stitches. It was a terrible incident.”

Owing to the accident, about 19 trains have been cancelled on New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri Junction, Bagdogra and Aluabari route and 37 trains have been diverted via New Jalpaiguri- Siliguri Junction- Bagdogda-Aluabari road and vice-versa.