Eighteen passengers were injured, one critically, after a local MMTS suburban train crashed into a Secunderabad-bound Hundry Express coming from Kurnool just outside the Kacheguda station on Monday morning. Twelve of the injured were discharged from the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) after first aid.
MMTS train loco-pilot L. Chandrasekhar, 36, who was trapped in the mangled lead coach, was pulled out alive after an eight-hour rescue operation and rushed to the hospital.
Rescue teams of the National Disaster Relief Force and South Central Railway , armed with gas cutters, hammers and crowbars, worked for hours to extricate the loco-pilot from the driver’s cabin after the accident occurred around 10.30 a.m. Continuous oxygen and saline feed was given to him.
Top railway officials, including Additional General Manager B.B. Singh, were at the site, anxiously waiting for the rescue operation to end so that railway lines could be cleared to resume services. which got disrupted after the accident happened in the morning.
Additional General Manager B.B. Singh blamed the accident on a “manual error” as the MMTS loco-pilot started even before receiving an all-clear signal on the mainline, even as the Hundry Express was pulling into the station.
“We suspect the loco pilot of MMTS overshot the signal and left the platform and even after noticing the oncoming train, he could not manage to apply the brakes,” said a SCR official.
The MMTS train from Lingampally to Falaknuma was moving from Platform No.2 to the mainline onward to Falakuma when it crashed mowed into the diesel engine of the incoming train bound towards Platform No.4 at the cross-section. The impact was such that five compartments of the MMTS train and three of the Express train got derailed, with the diesel engine wheels hanging in the air.
Miraculous escape
It was a miraculous escape for passengers as one train was yet to pick up speed, while the other had slowed down at the station. Many got down from their trains and scurried out of the station, a short distance away, before the rescue teams arrived. “We felt a big jolt and loud noise. Passengers in the forward carriages were screaming as a few were thrown out and others managed to jump out,” said RPF Home Guard M.R.L. Reddy, performing duty in the ladies coach of the MMTS train. “I was sitting on a seat next to a window and jumped out in time but a man next to me was injured as he was thrown into the opposite seat,” said Saketh, a student from Falaknuma.
CRS to probe
Ram Kripal, Commissioner Railway Safety, Southern Central Circle-Secunderabad, will conduct an inquiry. “The Ministry of Railways has taken today’s accident very seriously. Member (Traction), Additional Member (Signal & Telecom) and ED, Safety, Railway Board, will visit the site. Ex gratia will be disbursed to the injured passengers at the rate of ₹5,000 to those with minor injuries and ₹25,000 to passengers having grievous injuries,” said an official release.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted: “Received the tragic news of the train accident in Hyderabad & immediate instructions have been given to the authorities for assistance & monitoring. Railway administration is extending assistance & have made arrangements for the treatment of the injured at the accident site.”
