Railway Disasters: India's Shame

May 2010:

At least 141 passengers were killed and more than 180 injured when the Jnaneswari Express got derailed in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal. The cause of damage to the tracks, which in turn led to the mishap, was not known.

The Howrah – Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Jnaneswari Super Deluxe Express was heading from Howrah to Mumbai. The derailed train was then rammed into by a goods train coming in the opposite direction. The missing track was between the stations of Khemasoli and Sardiha. It was a clear act of sabotage as indicated by the missing rail track and the loosened fishplates.

July 2011:

Over 67 passengers were killed and about 250 injured when Howrah-Delhi Kalka Mail derailed near Fatehpur Malwan railway station in Uttar Pradesh at around 12:20p.m. There were 1,200 passengers on board when the tragedy struck, leaving scores trapped inside. The impact was so powerful that 13 bogies were thrown off the track, some on top of another, which left them utterly mangled. As for the cause of the accident, preliminary investigations suggested that the driver might have applied emergency brakes, and at a speed of 108 km per hour, it proved deadly. But the question is: What prompted the driver to apply emergency breaks? According to experts, emergency brakes don’t cause derailment. So it is possible that the air brakes failed or the tracks were damaged.