Trains
by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
NEW DELHI (Worthy News) – At least seven people were killed and several others injured Tuesday after a passenger train crashed into a cargo train in central India, according to senior local government officials and railway sources.
The collision occurred near Bilaspur, roughly 116 kilometers (72 miles) from the state capital Raipur in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, officials said.
Local television footage showed one train ramming into another, with rescuers cutting through mangled carriages to reach survivors.
District Collector Sanjay Agarwal told reporters that a coach of the passenger train had ended up on top of a wagon of the goods train.
“A rescue team is trying to cut through the train to take out at least two passengers trapped inside,” he said, adding that about a dozen people were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. One of them was reported in critical condition.
OFFICIAL RESPONSE
In a statement, Indian Railways said it had deployed all available resources for rescue efforts and launched an official inquiry into the cause of the crash.
Chhattisgarh’s Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai expressed condolences to the bereaved families and said compensation would be provided to those affected.
Preliminary reports suggest that the passenger train may have passed a signal at danger, although investigators cautioned that the cause has not yet been formally determined.
India operates one of the world’s largest railway systems. According to the Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways is Asia’s biggest and the world’s second-largest rail network under a single management, operating more than 21,000 passenger and freight trains daily across over 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.
Each day, more than 12 million passengers travel by train in India — a scale that underscores both the network’s importance and its vulnerability to safety lapses.
RENEWED PUBLIC CONCERN
The latest tragedy has renewed public concern over rail safety in the country, where accidents — often blamed on outdated signaling systems or human error — remain frequent despite modernization efforts.
In June 2024, at least 15 people were killed when a freight train slammed into a stationary passenger train in the eastern state of West Bengal, prompting renewed debate about signaling failures.
A year earlier, in June 2023, a triple-train collision in Odisha state killed at least 288 people and injured more than 800, making it one of India’s deadliest rail disasters in decades. Both incidents were attributed to a combination of signaling faults and operational errors, according to official investigations.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety has been assigned to conduct a full inquiry into Tuesday’s collision. Officials said teams were working to clear debris and restore traffic on the affected line.
While India has invested billions in new high-speed rail projects and automatic safety systems such as “Kavach,” a collision-avoidance technology, critics say safety improvements have not kept pace with the expanding size and age of the rail network.
For now, the focus remains on rescuing survivors and supporting the families of the victims.
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