Odisha Train Accident

At least 288 people have been killed and over 1000 were injured in a horrific three-train collision in Balasore district of Odisha

Key Points

• The spot of the crash is a little before Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore district, which is part of the Kharagpur railway division of South Eastern Railway.
• Three trains were involved — two passenger trains going in opposite directions, and a goods train that was stationary.
• Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has declared one-day state mourning in view of the horrific train crash.
• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced compensation of ₹ 10 lakh for the families of those who have died, ₹ 2 lakh for those seriously injured and ₹ 50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries in the accident.
• PM Modi too expressed his distress over the accident, and announced a compensation of ₹ 2 lakh for the family of the dead and ₹ 50,000 for the injured from the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

Trains

The accident involved three trains:

• Coromandel Express, which had started just hours before from Shalimar railway station in the state of West Bengal and was headed to the southern city of Chennai
• Howrah Superfast Express, which had started from Yesvantpur station in Bengaluru and was due to reach Howrah
• A stationary goods train, which was standing at the Bahanaga Bazar station

What Happened?

• The Coromandel Express on the way to Chennai from Shalimar left Balasore Railway Station at 6.50 pm on Friday (June 2).
• It reached the Bahanaga Bazar Railway level crossing 10 minutes later.
• The train was on Track No. 1 and was supposed to change side to Track No. 2 near the railway gate.
• However, it couldn’t change track due to some technical glitch. As a result, it proceeded further on Track No. 1, hitting a stationary goods train standing on the same line.
• Under the impact of the collision, 10-12 coaches of the Coromandel Express got derailed and fell over Track No. 3.
• At least three coaches of the Coromandel jumped onto the parallel track and hit the tail end of Sir M Visveswaraya Terminal-Howrah Superfast Express (12864) which was crossing the station at the same time.
• The five coaches – three from the Coromandel Express and two from the Bengaluru-Howrah Express, that collided into each other were among the worst hit and saw the maximum casualties.

‘Kavach’ system

Features

Coverage

• The system has been deployed on 1,098 kilometres of railway routes and in 65 locomotives under ongoing projects of the South Central Railway.
• Work is also underway to deploy it on 1,200 kilometers of railway routes of the South Central Railway.
• Meanwhile, the government in 2022 floated a tender to bring a total of 3,000 km of rail network under this technology, covering Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah rail network at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

At least 288 people were killed and around 803 were injured in a horrific three-train collision in Odisha’s Balasore, officials said Saturday, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the train accident site and met with injured people at hospitals in Cuttack. The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train.The accident saw one train ram so hard into another that carriages were lifted high into the air, twisting and then smashing off the tracks. Another carriage had been tossed entirely onto its roof, crushing the passenger section. “Everything was shaking and we could feel the coach toppling,” Sanjay Mukhia, a daily wage worker travelling to Chennai on the Coromandel-Shalimar Express, told NDTV, showing his injuries.