KOLKATA: At least eight people were killed in West Bengal, India, on Monday when a goods train driver missed a signal and collided with an express passenger train, derailing three carriages and causing significant damage. The latest incident highlights ongoing issues with India’s extensive but aging rail network.
The crash occurred in the Phansidewa area of Darjeeling district when the Kanchenjunga Express was struck from behind by the goods train. The impact derailed three passenger carriages, flipping them onto their sides, with one carriage being thrust into the air and precariously balanced on another.
Jaya Varma Sinha, chairman of India’s Railway Board, confirmed the death toll and detailed the crash’s circumstances. “A goods train disregarded the signal and hit the train from behind,” Sinha stated, noting that the dead included the driver and co-driver of the goods train, a train guard, and five passengers. Around 50 people were injured and transported to hospitals.
Sinha added that the casualties could have been higher, but two parcel carriages and a guard wagon at the back of the passenger train absorbed much of the impact. “There were two parcel carriages attached… which protected other carriages from extensive damage,” she explained, though she noted the guard wagon was “badly damaged.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on social media, offering sympathies to “those who lost their loved ones.”
Local police officer Iftikar-Ul-Hassan reported seeing several severely injured persons being rescued from the wreckage. He warned that the death toll could rise, as four persons were in critical condition.
India’s rail network, one of the largest in the world, has a history of severe accidents. The most devastating occurred in 1981 when a train derailed on a bridge in Bihar state, killing approximately 800 people. More recently, a three-train collision in Odisha state last June resulted in nearly 300 deaths, and a collision in Andhra Pradesh last October claimed at least 14 lives.
