Chennai train accident: 11 killed, 100 injured
Mtoday news / NDTV
Chennai, Sept 13: At least 11 people were killed and over 100 injured when two trains collided near Chennai on Tuesday evening. The accident happened near Arakkonam when Chennai Beach-Vellore Cantonment train rammed the stationary Arakkonam-Katpadi passenger train at about 9:30 pm.
The accident happened at a point between Melpakkam and Chitheri stations near Arakkonam. The Arakkonam-Katpadi train was waiting for signal when it was hit by the Vellore-bound train.
The exact cause of accident is not known yet. Railway officials suspect it to be a case of over-speeding, but say it is too early to speculate on what exactly caused the accident. Railway authorities have also said that the train that collided skipped signals and its driver jumped out before the collision.
Five bogies of the stationary train and three bogies of the moving train derailed after the accident. Many passengers were trapped in these bogies but reports suggest most of them have been pulled out safely.
Rescue operations and clearing of tracks is still on. Overnight rain and darkness hampered the rescue work, but it resumed after rain stopped this morning.
More than 100 police officials and firemen are involved in the rescue efforts. Navy personnel and two teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) are also at the site.
The injured were rushed to Arakkonam and Vellore government hospitals, and also to hospitals in Kancheepuram. Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi will visit the site soon with senior officials. He has announced a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for the families of those killed and Rs. 2 lakh for those seriously injured.
The accident has disrupted rail traffic on the busy Chennai-Katpadi sector with two trains being cancelled and many others diverted. Train services are expected to resume by this evening. Southern Railways has set up special help desks and helplines for information for those travelling.
This is the third rail mishap since July this year. Seventy people were killed when the Howrah-Kalka Mail derailed near Kanpur on July 10. Three weeks later, some coaches of Guwahati-Bangalore Express jumped the tracks in Malda district of West Bengal and were hit by another train leaving three persons dead.
Chennai Helpline numbers: 044 25357398, 044 25347771, 09244919572
Human error a major cause of train accidents
A majority of the train accidents that take place in India are due to human error. CNN-IBN has accessed an internal safety report of the Railways which says that 18 of 21 accidents in the last four months took place due to human error.
Comptroller and Auditor General reports and internal safety audits conducted by the Railways have been pointing out how the organisation has been compromising on safety for many years now.
Manpower shortage, financial bottlenecks and delay in installing anti-collision devices are among key reasons why safety is being compromised.
Over 250 people have died in 93 train accidents in 2010 and 2011 while 18 of the 21 train accidents between April and July 2011 have been due to faults of railway staff. Railway staff have been blamed for 90 per cent of the avoidable accidents.
Reports also show that there is shortage 16,000 locomotive drivers and 50,000 gangmen in the railways.
The role of human error is back in focus following Tuesday night’s collision between the Chennai Beach-Vellore Cantonment Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) train and the Arakonam-Katpadi passenger train killing 10 people and leaving at least 85 others injured.
While railway officials indicate that the EMU driver was overspeeding and skipped red signals before crashing into the stationary Arakonam-Katpadi passenger train near Chitheri station, about 90 kms from Chennai, there is also the question many drivers being overworked due to shortage of staff.
The meeting of chief safety officers of the railways over the last two years have discussed the issue of shortage of drivers but till now no concrete steps have been taken to address the issue.