In a tragic rail accident in eastern India on Friday, nearly 300 people lost their lives and around 900 were injured when a passenger train derailed and collided with two other trains. The scale of this accident’s toll is particularly significant, even considering India’s unfortunate history of deadly train crashes.
The collision between two passenger trains and a freight train in the city of Balasore, India, was the deadliest in the country since the 1990s. At least 288 people were killed and around 900 were injured in this multiple train collision in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. Images from the accident site near Balasore showed wrecked train compartments with blood-stained holes.
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The Coromandel Express, which operates from Kolkata in West Bengal to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, derailed around 7 pm on Friday after colliding with a stationary freight train at approximately 80mph (130km/h). According to South Eastern Railway, two carriages from the Howrah Superfast Express train, which was traveling in the opposite direction, collided with freight trains, causing the fatal pileup.
As more corpses were recovered from the wreckage and overturned carriages, the death toll would likely rise, according to the state’s chief secretary, Pradeep Jena. More than 200 ambulances were dispatched to the scene in the Balasore district of Odisha, and an additional 100 physicians were mobilized in addition to the 80 already present, he added. Hundreds of fire department personnel, police officers and sniffer dogs were also involved.
Did an unexplained change in rail tracks caused the accident?
South Eastern Railway’s senior deputy commercial manager Rajesh Kumar stated that the Coromandel Express had changed tracks, leading to the incident, and that the cause would be investigated.
Authorities have provided contradictory accounts regarding which train derailed first before colliding with the other.
According to a video from the signaling control room of the Kharagpur division of the Railways, the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express took a loop line where the freight train was parked shortly after crossing Bahanagar Bazar station on Friday at approximately 6:55 p.m., instead of the main line, a senior Railway official said.
“How it happened and why it happened, will be found in the detailed inquiry that the railway had ordered. But prima facie it appears to be a human error,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
As a result of the catastrophic disaster, at least 12 trains have been canceled and three have been rerouted. On Saturday, Odisha’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik declared a day of mourning following the tragic train derailment in Balasore.
The families of those killed on Friday will receive $12,136, according to India’s Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology. Those injured in the mishap will receive lesser amounts.
Two Bangladeshis injured in the accident, no death recorded yet
According to reports, two Bangladeshis were among those injured in the fatal train collision. According to the Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata, the two injured Bangladeshis were traveling to Chennai from the Shalimar station in Kolkata. They are receiving treatment at a hospital in Balasore. Bangladeshi officials are continuing to investigate their identities.
According to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, no Bangladeshis have been reported killed in the disaster. However, the Indian Railways authorities have not yet disclosed the identities of any of those killed and people from various parts of India are traveling to the accident site, causing traffic jams 40 to 50 kilometers away.
Hotline opened for Bangladeshis
Following the railway accident, the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata has established a hotline to collect information about Bangladeshis. Friday, the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata released a press statement in this regard.
Any questions can be directed to the Deputy High Commission’s hotline number (+ 91 90 3835 35 33 — WhatsApp).
According to the press release, Bangladeshis typically use the Karmandal Express to travel from Kolkata to Chennai for medical treatment. In light of this, the Deputy High Commission is in contact with the Indian Railway Authorities and the Odisha State Government following the accident.
India’s railway system struggles with safety and modernization
India, a nation of about 1.4 billion people, has one of the world’s most extensive railway systems, with more than 40,000 miles of track — enough to wrap around the earth about one and a half times. However, the railway network suffers from aging infrastructure and poor maintenance, which often leads to accidents.
In 2021, nearly 18,000 railway accidents occurred in India, resulting in the deaths of approximately 16,431 people. A majority of these accidents, about 67.7%, were reported as “Fall from trains /collision with people on track,” according to a 2021 report by the National Crime Records.
India has a history of major train disasters. The worst occurred in 1981 during a cyclone in Bihar state, where an overcrowded passenger train was blown off the tracks and into a river, causing at least 800 deaths.
In 1999, another disaster in the eastern state of West Bengal claimed 285 lives. In 2005, a crowded passenger train collided with a stationary cargo train in Gujarat, resulting in the death of at least two dozen people. In 2011, a mail train derailed in Uttar Pradesh, causing multiple casualties. In 2016, over 100 passengers died in another Uttar Pradesh derailment. Two years later, a speeding train in Punjab ran over dozens of people celebrating a Hindu festival with fireworks.
Passenger safety has been a subject of scrutiny, with a committee appointed in 2012 highlighting poor infrastructure and resources. The committee recommended urgent measures such as track upgrades, bridge repairs, elimination of road-level crossings, and replacing old coaches with safer ones. The government has invested in renovating and modernizing trains and tracks, but challenges persist.
Despite efforts by the government to improve safety and upgrade infrastructure, several hundred accidents still occur every year on India’s railways. Most accidents are attributed to human error or outdated signaling equipment. The scale of the railway network, with 40,000 miles of track and 13 million passengers on 14,000 trains daily, makes it the world’s largest train network under one management.
The recent crash in Odisha has once again raised concerns about safety issues in India’s railway system, which transports over eight billion people annually. While the country has invested heavily in recent years to modernize the infrastructure, decades of neglect cannot be overcome overnight.
