At least seven passengers were killed and more than two dozen injured when nine coaches and the engine of the New Delhi bound New Farakka Express derailed at the outer signal of Harchandpur railway station in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday morning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his anguish at the loss of lives. “Condolences to the bereaved families and I pray that the injured recover quickly,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted quoting Modi.
He said the UP government, Railways and the National Disaster Response Force were ensuring all possible assistance at the site of the accident.
Expressing grief at the death of the passengers, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 2 lakh each for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to those seriously injured besides free treatment. He directed the district administration, police and health officials to carry out rescue operation on a war footing and ensure treatment of the injured.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the dead, Rs 1 lakh for the injured and Rs 50,000 for those with minor injuries.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and those injured in the accident near Rae Bareli. I am in touch with officials for relief work,” Goyal tweeted.
The New Farakka Express (14003) was on its way to New Delhi from Malda in West Bengal. Around 6:05 am, soon after the train left the Rae Bareli railway station, its engine jumped off the tracks at the outer signal of Harchandpur railway station. Nine coaches — six sleeper class and three general class coaches — also derailed and were badly mangled.
The passengers sitting in other coaches also sustained injuries due to the heavy jerk after derailment.
Harchandpur station manager immediately passed on the information to senior railway officials and soon, a large team of police led by Superintendent of police of Rae Barely, Sujata Singh, Lucknow range IG Sujit Pandey and district administration officials rushed to the spot to supervise rescue operations.
Officers and personnel of police, railway, health department besides fresh recruits of the UP Police carried out rescue and relief operations.
A team of senior officials, including Railway Board Chairman Ashwini Lohani, Northern Railway General Manager Visheshwar Chaube and officials of Lucknow Division of Northern Railway also reached the spot. Lohani later visited those admitted in hospitals in Rae Bareli.
Besides, teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel also joined the rescue operation. They used heavy duty cutters to extricate those trapped inside the mangled coaches.
The railways, however, maintained that five people — three men and two women — were killed and 19, including 10 women and six minors —were injured. It identified the deceased as Ajay Puri (45) of Kisanganj (Bihar), Dinesh of Munger (Bihar), Anita nee Sunita of Munger and her children Reeta (4) and Shambhu (20).
A high level inquiry by the Commission of Railway Safety, Northern Circle., was ordered by the Railways. The investigation will be conducted by Chief Commissioner, Railway Safety, Shailesh Pathak, who also probed the derailment of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express last year in which 22 people died.
The Anti-Terrorists Squad (ATS) was also pressed into service to check whether it was an act of sabotage.
Four of the seriously injured were being treated at the trauma centre of Lucknow’s King George Medical University and two at the city’s Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, UP government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma told reporters.
Sources in the Railways disclosed that green signal was given to the train to depart from Harchandpur railway station. “However, track segments (points) to put the train on the broad gauge failed to work after which it came on the loop line and the engine derailed,” the sources said referringto initial findings.
A special train, which was arranged for the stranded passengers, left Lucknow for New Delhi at 2:45 pm with 1,369 passengers on board, railway officials said, adding that they were given food packets to sustain them through the journey.
Due to the incident, train traffic on the route came to a standstill and train movement remained affected for hours on the route. Rescue teams were still on the spot and tracks were being cleared.
All up and down lines on the route were blocked and as many as 10 trains were cancelled while 19 were diverted on another rail route.
Emergency helpline numbers were set up at the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction, Mughalsarai, officials said.