Jaynagar-Delhi Garib Rath Express narrowly escaped a major accident on Friday. The engine of the train got separated from the coaches as it neared Khajauli railway station after departing from Madhubani district’s Jayanagar area near. The passengers in the bogie started shouting and panicking, when the driver noticed the engine and bogie were already one kilometre apart.
The coach was moving on the railway track without the engine, however, the driver applied the brakes and stopped the engine and brought it back to attach it with the coach again. The entire process took about forty minutes following which several express trains from Jayanagar got delayed, reports Kumar Gaurav.
In another tragic incident, on Thrusday, a 24-year-old man was killed onboard the Begampura Express over a dispute about a seat on the train. Two of his brothers suffered serious injuries, police said. The accused has been arrested and the body was sent for postmortem. The police said that initially an altercation broke out which turned into a physical confrontation. "The dispute intensified, and the youths attacked Tauhid with a knife and an iron rod, fatally injuring him," an official said.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply thata total of 29 train accidents took place in the current financial year up to November 26 due to equipment failure and sabotage among other reasons. This caused the death of 17 people and 71 were left injured. He was responding to DMK MP Kanimozhi's questions regarding the number of accidents in trains, including goods trains that occurred during the last year along with the reasons.
"As a consequence of various safety measures taken over the years, there has been a steep decline in the number of accidents. Consequential train accidents have reduced from 135 in 2014-15 to 40 in 2023-24," Vaishnaw said.
(With inputs from PTI)
