Railway Disasters: India's Shame

Bangalore: India operates a railway system that carries more than 13 million passengers every day, but it shows a very poor history of safety. The BBC estimates around 300 railway accidents being reported each year, resulting in a large number of casualties. In the wake of the recent Hampi-Express collision tragedy, here is a list of some of the other recent Railway disasters.

September 10, 2002:  

Eastern Railway’s luxury, high speed train, Rajdhani Express derailed on a 300-foot bridge over the Dhave River near Gaya. The accident happened at around 10:40PM in the evening. There were 1,000 people on board when the train departed from Howrah and was heading to New Delhi when the mishap occurred. 15 cars derailed and fell across the tracks, two of which tumbled into the river flowing beneath. The force of the crash propelled people from other carriages into the water as well.

Poor roads, which turned into muddy streams in the rainstorm, impeded the rescuers and local military forces. Local people tried giving whatever help they could to the crash-victims. 125 people were rescued by morning, but nothing could be done to the victims trapped in the carriages which had fallen into the river.

The death toll continued to rise over subsequent weeks with the total reaching close to 130. Although exact number of casualties is not known, some news reports estimate the death toll to be as high as 200.