First bogie catches fire in the impact; adjoining coaches derail
In one of the worst accidents in Andhra Pradesh in recent years, 25 people were killed and dozens injured when the Bangalore-bound Hampi Express rammed a stationary goods train just outside the railway station here in the early hours of Tuesday.
Train No. 16591 was proceeding from Hubli to Bangalore and most passengers were asleep when it hit the Mysore New Goods Terminal goods train at 3.10 a.m.
The impact was so severe that the bogie next to the engine caught fire, while the second, third and fourth bogies derailed. Severed limbs and burnt bodies were seen at the site. Thirteen of the victims were charred to death.
Distressing scenes
Heart-rending scenes were witnessed as several passengers were trapped inside the mangled bogies. A little girl, looking dazed, was seen amid half a dozen bodies in her coach. Workers had to use gas torches to cut open the bogie and pull out the bodies and the passengers.
Penukonda Deputy Superintendent of Police Kolar Krishna, who received the first distress call, was at the spot within minutes with his men after informing the fire department. However, the fire had done major damage before it was brought under control — passengers in the first bogie were engulfed in flames. Mr. Krishna said most of the dead were travelling in the first and second coaches. Railway and police personnel transported the other passengers in eight buses to Bangalore.
Ex-gratia announced
Railway Minister Mukul Roy and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy were among the leaders who visited the accident site. After inspecting the damage, Mr. Roy said the Commissioner of Railway Safety would order an inquiry and those responsible for the accident would not be spared. He announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh each for the kin of those who lost their lives, Rs. 1 lakh for those severely injured and Rs. 25,000 for those with comparatively minor injuries.
Among the first to reach the spot were State Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy and Congress MPs K. Chiranjeevi and Anantha Venkatarami Reddy. The Minister visited the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Puttaparthi, where some of the injured were being treated.
Combination of mistakes
The Divisional Railway Manager of the South Western Railway, headquartered in Bangalore, said the incident might have been the result of a combination of mistakes by signalling personnel as well as the driver of the train.
PTI adds:
Railways has set up helplines at Bangalore City, Bellary, Hospet and Hubli.
The helpline numbers at Bangalore city are 080—22321166, 22156553, 22156554; Bellary 08392—277704; Hospet 08394—221788; Hubli 0836—2345338, 2346141, 2289826.
Keywords: Andhra train mishap, Hampi Express, Anantapur district, Penugonda
It is very sad news to hear and also where we are in stand taking measuring steps to increase our information technology....
This is absolutely irresponsible of the driver, his assistant and finally the govt. The UPA is not performing its responsibilities. Why can't we have well equipped system as USA has. It might be costing bit high. Considering the people safety the govt can increase the fares, can implement the same. I suggest the Great India Govt to modernize the railways.
Indian media should give same reaction to all kind of mishap happens through out of country. There is mishap happened in Tehri district and 25 people got killed in this mishap. Railway, ministers and state ministry is going to give compensation to family of passengers who died in rail mishap in Anantpur district.
Media people should come up with Mishap happened Kodiyala near Byasi in Tehri district in same way as they came for railway mishap. 25 pilgrims from Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh were killed and 17 injured, when the bus they were traveling in from Badrinath to Rishikesh fell into the Ganga on Tuesday.
This Accident should get same response as Rail accident got in Anantpur.
every year Indian railways prove that how much they concerned about passengers it very sad those who lost their life and they getting compensation at end is that justice for poor people as amm admi.Did money matter after lost .it my request to railway minister either upgrade new thing in Indian railway or give up this portfolio.
May i suggest to Hon Prime Minister/Minister for Railways the following Sensor camera system to immediately implement.Cost might not be more than $1000/Train for installing on both Front&Rear of every Passenger/Cargo Train.This will be an integral part of Locomotive Electrical Circuitry so without switching on this system train would not move.It could be almost similar to ones currently equipped as OEM in each luxury car in USA.
It highlights on "car Dash board's Navigator" the distance between my car and the foregoing car in the same road track adjusts it's speed so as to maintain the safe minimum braking distance between the two&starts alerting with beep sound. Also as this camera system is equipped in the rear of my car,while backing the car say for parking or for taking reverse this guides/stops vehicle to maintain safe distance from idle objects behind.It is connected to braking/speed control system of the car & once on it can't be superceded.Ford Toyota or Honda can be consulted.
Where we stand with current technologies ? By saying India is a fast growing country towards technology we couldn't accept these type of failures which haven taken so many lives.We are paying higher taxes & ticket fares and what not? then why in India only causing these type of unbearable accidents.By simply giving ex-Gratia will it return their lives back ? And finally we are ending up with our comments to a news paper or media and no further action is being taken on the culprits.whether its a signal technician or railway authorized person who was responsible for these accidents.Unfortunately people have to travel in this type of transportation system as common people don't have other choices. This is really disgusting, though i can't provide an ex-Gratia like ministers i am submitting my deep & sincere condolences to the people who scarified their lives for others mistakes.
Hope our Railway system will improve to avoid these type of accidents in future.
The min and the Govt should be held responsible for killing 25 innocent people and should be punished. Someone file a case against them not only for the above crime but for totally ignoring the safety. A court of equiry should be ordered instead of the useless railway's enquiry and the facts should be published within 30days. Govt should tell the public as to what measures are taken or being taken (as per earlier mishaps & recommendations) to improve safety in railways.
It came to know that One of the passenger was fast to inform the local administrative officers as he was having the phone numbers. It would be better to built a dynamic helpline center which automatically changes the phone numbers to concerned local authorities based on the location of the train.
Death of 1220 people in last five years due to railway accident- an apalling fact. If these accidents are occuring due to underinvestment in the safety equipment, all related ministers should be tried for massacre. However, grim truth is that poor people who died will be happy to get a job in railway and forget about dealth of loved one. Simply, we do not value the human life in India. This very concept reflects in a comment allowed by editor which endorses the death of rich. can moral go lower than this?
While our neighbour China is busy building the most modern infrastructure since
the start of liberalisation, we are sitting, stuck to our Third-World infrastructure -
our ancient railway tracks and rolling stock, our miserable highways and power
infrastructure. The money from the liberalisation has flown steadily into a few
pockets. That's all we have to show for our democracy!
The least we should consider doing is redesign the windows on our coaches and
do away with the bars which take ages to cut through effectively trapping
passengers inside and condemning them to death. With the present safety record,
the railway passengers have more to fear from this than from any thieves or
robbers stealing things out of the windows.
For those beatng up on Laloo Prasad Yadav, he has been long gone ! How come the new administration did not fix the problems ? What is our White master (Sonia Gandhi) doing about this ?
British built Indian Railways around the same time they built for themselves. They have upgraded thier technologies but we continue to maintain the vintage. If you ever see the signalling system in Europe, you will find it apalling. The fares increase continuously.
In India, we discount fares for the middle class and poor. Do you want to discount and increase the risk of accidents? Why are politicians playing politics in the lives of passengers? Who wants 'Indian Railways makes profit'? Are 'Indian Railways' using the profit to give job to the family of the victims? This is ridiculous and shame on us.
We should invest in the safety equipments.
The Indian Railway should learn a lot from other countries
in respect of Rly safety.For improving the Rly safety we need money which should be done through increasing the passenger fare.The opposition political parties should not cry foul while increasing the passenger fare and the common man should also understand the real problem of the railways and should support them if the passenger fare is increased for the sake of their life.
Simple ways to earn imaginary profits and cause real accidents
Following are the standard operational practices in Indian Railways now.
(The good old rules do not hold any longer)
Two trains taken on same platform
Two trains standing on same platform
Two trains admitted in to the section ,one following another
Relying on relative speed of trains to avoid a collision
Total electromechanisation of signal/track change systems
Winding up cabins at both ends
Doing away with pointsmen cabinmen on a large scale
Minding the track by one ASM and one or two poinstmen ,solely with the help of electronic track operating system.
He who cares not to publish this letter is a traitor to the nation and a collaborator in perpetuating this horror.
RIP for all the people who lost their lives. I could understand the anguishness of the readers by their comments, but is the Railway minister responsible for a Drivers mistake? The driver jumped the signal and caused this unfortunate incident. Do not just point the finger towards the minister and move to the next news. We need to realise that if every one of us do our jobs in perfect manner I believe many mishaps could be avoided. If the driver was properly trained about the consequences of skipping a singnal, this would never been a news. Its not just us following the rules, but we also should have the guts to pinpoint or advice the one who is skipping it. Hope we guide the future towards the right way and make our country a safer place.
Some years before a Railway accident enquiry headed bya Judge recommended that only upper class carriages should be first in the formation It was followed for some time and later given up by the vested interests
Whe Jag jeevan Ram was the Railway Minister accidents were few but yet some MP exclaimed in Parliament"In this world("JAG") if you want to save your life("JEEVAN") you have to chant("RAM")
Very unfortunate, railway should expand more after the safety.
At one time, there used to be a rule that there must be a break van as the first and the last coaches of ALL passenger trains. The photo given here clearly shows that the break van is NOT the first coach after the engine. Have the rules been changed? I certainly have seen consistently that the first coach after the engine in Mysore-Chennai Kaveri Express is either the III AC or II Sleeper coach. Can any of the readers, especially from the Railways throw some light on this aspect? If this rule had been followed, certainly there would not have been so many casualties.
it's tragic indeed...but just a couple of days after such an accident, we tend t forget that...the safety aspect is the least important for the Railway ministry officials...shouldn't they, at the board/ministerial level be held responsible for such accidents?????
My deepest condolences to people who lost relatives. We keep saying we have grown but still our communication network is very old and still based on one signal go/no go...Why cant we do technology up-gradation like anti collision devices in all the engines..why cant we at least keep fire extinguishers in the each compartment and it be monitored for any wrongdoing...Except for announcing relief funds we have not seen any development in this issue..
Manmohan beleives in the railway minister and has full faith on him. If there is a rail accident, Manmohan takes the full responsibility on himself. This is the same as what happened in A.Raja case and Telecom Scandal. If there is a PIL and Supreme Court says, the government will have a committee to look into railway security.
In many government organizations, there is a severe dearth of supervisory staff to monitor works done by contractors. That suits the contractors as well as supervisory staff as there are no huge penalties for lack of supervision and in any case, they can always claim to be overburdened beyond their capability. Such accidents are results of such lack of supervision and after a brief hullabaloo everyone forgets in a very short time, and life goes on the same.
7. June 22, 2003: 53 were killed and 25 injured(290L)
8. July July 2,2003: 18 were killed. (90 L)
9. February 27,2004: 30 people killed (150L)
10. December 15,2004: 34 persons, including 11 women, died and about 50 injured (220 L)
11. August 18,2006: Two carriages caught fire
12. November 9,2006: About 40 died and 15 injured (215 L)
13. December 1,2006: killing 35 and injuring 17(192 L)
14. November 14, 2009: About 7 died and 60 injured(95 L)
15. October 21, 2009: 21 were killed and 26 injured (131 L)
16. 2 January 2010: 15 died (75 L)
17. 16 January 2010: 3 died (15L)
18. May 28, 2010: Jyaneshwari Express derailed by Naxals killing at least 148 people (740 L)
Total money spend for decesead and grievous injuries =4828 Lach. In a decade total 18 accident has haapend. Is it not possible to stop the tear of the innocent people, and stop this by using above money(4828 Lack) which we spent in the compensations,Our Minister ,could you please give us some safety ...
Minister for Railways, Shri Mukul Roy should resign as a minister, owning the responsibility for the accident. He is responsible for people of India, not to Mamatadidi. He should improve safety on the railways, even if it means increasing the fare. Passengers are willing to pay more for a safe journey.
I hope that Mamata Banerjee will sleep in peace now. She ordered a railway minister out of his job just out of whim. How many more people need to die before politicians realise that railways are more important than vote bank politics
really its a shoking news..onces again indian railway prove wrong for its implementation to safety.so raiways have to look this matter seriously to avoid such accident in futer.otherwise ultimately we are losser
Why not railway department not taking accident preventive measures despite receving so many accidents reports across the country that lead to several innocents’ deaths. As news report parked goods trains should not be on the track as it should be free for ill fate train to pass through. Who is responsible for goods train to stay on that track where actually accident train to running and need to form an probing committee to punish culprit if it happened really human error. If technical, should adopt the international measure where how they following accident free or preventing possible from adopting high techonology. But in India there is no value for human life and every one scot free by concern agency and government announce compensation to the deceased person. So someone has to brought this incident to under the purview of judiciary to direct government and agency to implement world class system that ensures passengers safety by adopting all possible technologies.
The senior railway officials and of course the minister do not travel by train. They all
fly-first class--at your expense.
Thank Ms. Mamata for stalling railway's anti collision devices!
We must understand that railways cannot afford to churn out low cost
services when cost of every other thing in world has gone up! Look at
prices of diesel or electricity - one of the input for railways!
Safety needs investment and that needs extra funds! where will that
come when you make loss by running low cost trains!
At this rate they will one day declare that railway is loss making and
no longer viable & then hand it over to a private operator who will
make merry and mockery of people!
Dear Mamata Banerjee please ensure that the first few coaches in all
trains are AC ones so that only rich people die and not your voters.
Railway Authority should keep proxy/substitute for a signalling literate personnal of young age in railways crossing. we always found signalling personnel of old age he may cant see properly. we never found young people.
By handing over the railway portfolio to Lalu Yadav and mamatha
Banerjee the Railways have become the carriers of death says S. N IYER. Well, will he say why late Lal Bahadur Sastry resigned as Railway Minister?
It is really sad and unfortunate. Still how many loss of lives this government wants. For every loss of life, they order for an enquiry and once the report is submitted to take an action on improvement of technology they are not ready. If the report soughts an action on any individual then caste or religious politics come into play. This government has the money for the people like Raja's and kasabs but not for improving the technology and for the poor people.... it is really pity :( hope atleast now the government takes an action for the modernization of railways.
This country damn cares about safety of its citizens-- >Just after the accident , railway minister is declaring compensation...if it is his child only..what would be his reaction. Why not our government is investing on safety of passengers trians
>Now Mamta banerji type politicians are making our life hell by not allowing investment in the Rail safety
it's unfortunate event, many people have lost their life in railways
accidents but looks like no one cares about safety. Mamta is worried
about only popularity but not safety. It's time to kick such idiots
out of govt.my suggestion is to have 2/3 goods coaches next to the engine instead of general coaches.
The Indian Railways kill more Indians than all the terrorists put
together. There is little if no critique or analysis in the Indian
Media of the impact of Government Apathy or incompetence. If they was
one that analysed the impact of not implementing technology to
prevent such accidents, this accident could have been prevented. For
example, why has the Railways not included automatic cutoffs for
engines that overshoot signals? Is it the Unions or Railway Officials
who wont even get a job in a circus?
Nowadays it is very scary to travel by Railways as accidents occur very frequently. when is the Railway dept going to learn? the same mistakes keep happening again and again and leaders keep announcing compensations. what will they do to compensate for the loss of family members? can they bring the life back?
I don't have any words to express my anguish and sadness over the
accident. My deep condolences to all those who have lost their lives.
Railway officials should take enough care to avoid these kind of
accidents. Although, several accidents are happening, proper steps are
being taken to avoid such things.
Accidents do occur, even with the most sophisticated systems. However, in India train accidents are far more common and thus becomes unacceptable. Every accident needs to be forensically studied and common avoidable factors found and rectified. Leaving it to the Almighty, as India has a tendency for it, is not an acceptable position. If it is a human error, study the reasons for it and arrange to manage it for future and where possible safety assured fail safe automated system employed. Every life is precious for someone!
What a way for UPA II to enter the fourth year of their tenure. Ever since Mamta bannerjee became the Railway Minister innocents are losing their lives in the accidents. Mr. Trivedi tried some good things but has been replaced by the chamcha Mr. Mukul Roay whose past credentials are well known. Unless the Railways plays importance to the overhauling of railway tracks such accidents would keep happening and inocents would keep losing their lives. When will the better sense prevail on the new Railway Minister. May the dead Souls bring some sanity to the mandrins of power. Any death in accident is bad and my heart goes out to all those who have lost their kith and kin. I pray for the Departed Souls.
The railway minister must owe a moral responsibility for this. Mere compensation is useless as it won't bring back the kith and kin back to life. Who ever was responsible for the signalling , operation etc.in that region should be held responsible. The Railway minister and Mamtha are bothered only about their seat.If they have so much respect for their seat. They should give away their month's salary for this as a compensation. By giving a compensation it is only the tax payers money which is lost. The locomotives and signals should be monitored and audited regularly. Diesel locomotives which are pointed in which the pilots cannot even see the line properly and accidents continue to happen . Why use such faulty equiptments. The money paid by the customers during the time of reservation has to be respected.
Please increase the train fares and then try to modernise Indian Railways. Its not what the government gives us for free.It is the feeling of security and safety required by any Indian Citizen. Please save people.
The railways invariably flout the rules on composition of coaches. the break van or goods van should always be kept attached next to leading Locomotive. They even keep A/C coach next to Locomotive, that too in important train like Chennai-Bangalore Mail.
Our non performing railways minister should resign taking moral responsibility. The argry bird who demanded and pushed this person into ministry should also resign. We need a technocrat with a vision for improvement to lead the railways, not street vendors and fish mongers. World is moving towards 250+ km/hr bullet train and unmanned trains. Here we are not able to run a snail train without accident. How many more should we sacrifice before better sence prevail? Did didi ever undertsood the pain of victims'suffering? We need to generate and distribute employment so that everyone can pay for a safe and comfortable travel. Not tavel cheap and die cheap. not only for didi everyone needs that.
Sad and unfortunate loss of life. We should worry about improving
railways for the sake of our citizens. Not because foreigners may not
travel! The volume of passengers that Indian railways carries per day is
so high. Foreigners are but a tiny proportion of that volume. So I would
worry about protecting our travelling citizens first, and not whether
foreigners travel (but I understand Mr. Kumar's preoccupation, since he
lives in NYC).
Really a shocking news!! Things are getting worse day by day. Serious
measures need to be taken in this regard. I fail to understand the delay
in implementation of automated hi-tech systems in railways by the Govt.
Crores of people travel through railways daily risking their
lives,making it the lifeline of country. But still the situation remains
grim !!!
The accidents continue to happen and the worst effected are those who
are in General Compartments. It's not clear why General Compartment is
always just after, why not I-AC and so on. Is it to safeguard VIPs who
normally travel by I-AC. I hope, Mamta would not pass on the blame to
Left party.
Now a days this type of unfortunate news are proliferating. It is not the time to raise fingers against any one. It is the need of the hour to provide help and support to fellow people who all lost their kith and kin in this disaster.
Railways are ignoring Safety but avoiding fare hike. It is high time that Railways should invest more in Safety than in populous measures.
By handing over the railway portfolio to Lalu Yadav and mamatha
Banerjee the Railways have become the carriers of death. No one
really cares for th aam admi. If railway fares are not increased how
can the railways be modernized ? The UPA II does not care for the
aam admi.It is high time the railways are privatized !
Its very unfortunate news that I watched on telugu eletronic media. When will our RAILWAYS improve? Just because of one man gave a wrong signal this express train collided with goods train. The first bogie is a general bogie and media says atleast 300 people might have died. Railways minister must resign by owning moral responsibility but he enjoys his home state visit. Why do not we have an automated signal system? Is there any human rights values in India especially the passenger boards Indian railways? This incident send bad signals to world wide and no foreigner will travel in Indian railways. Thanks, Kumar NYC.
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