At least 22 people were killed and 26 others injured when the Delhi-bound Goa Express rammed into the stationary Mewar Express, also heading for the capital, between Mathura and Vrindavan on the North-Central Railway (NCR) in the early hours today.
NCR spokesman Rajesh Vajpayee told NetIndian over the telephone that seven of those killed had been identified. They included three women.
The victims were identified as Priya Shrivastava (Ballabgarh, Haryana), Geeta (Dheerpur, Delhi), Dinesh (Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh), Jai Tiwari (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh), Hemant (54, Baran, Rajasthan), Brijesh Chaturvedi (41, Morena), Suman (42).
A senior railway official at the scene of the accident told mediapersons that all the injured passengers had been brought out of the damaged coach of the Udaipur-Hazrat Nizamuddin Mewar Express and rushed to the Government hospital in Mathura and other hospitals in the Uttar Pradesh town, about 140 km from Delhi
He said the bodies of all those killed in the mishap had also been extricated from the wreckage of the coach. Railway officials did not give any cause for the accident, saying their immediate priority was the rescue and relief operation and the restoration of rail traffic on the busy route that connects Delhi and Mumbai. However, media reports suggested that the Mewar Express had stopped because someone had pulled the emergency chain.
The official on the scene said it appeared that the driver of the 2779 Goa Express, which was on the same track, appeared to have ignored a signal and had failed to slow down to a cautious speed as required when there is a train not far ahead on the same line.
Officials said the rescue operations had been completed. The damaged bogie of the 2964 Mewar Express was detached, and the remainder of the train later reached Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi with passengers of both the trains. Buses had also been arranged to transport passengers of the two trains to Nizamuddin, he said.
Senior railway officials in Delhi told that the accident occurred around 0445 hours, leading to considerable damage to the last coach of the Mewar Express.
A crane lifts coaches of Mewar express, which was hit by the Goa Sampark Kranti Express near Mathura on October 21, 2009. Rescue teams had to use flame-cutters to cut through the metal to extricate the injured passengers from the mangled coach. About 150 Army personnel and hundreds of local people joined the railway and the civilian authorities in the rescue efforts.
The officials said Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of each of those killed in the accident, Rs 1 lakh for those who had suffered grievous injuries and Rs 10,000 for those who had simple injuries.
According to Mr Vajpayee, the Railway Minister was likely to visit the scene of the accident later this evening and also meet the injured passengers in hospitals in Mathura.
They said accident relief trains from Delhi and Agra had rushed to the spot as soon as news of the accident came in. Three medical relief trains had also been rushed to the scene, they said.
Senior officials, including the General Manager of North-Central Railway and the Divisional Railway Manager of the Agra Division had also rushed to the spot, they said.
As a result of the accident, two trains had been cancelled and five had been diverted. The up-line had been restored by mid-morning and the down line by this evening.
At Nizamuddin, the Railways had made arrangements to provide the passengers of the two trains with food, medical assistance and other facilities, they said.
The Railways have also established telephone helplines in Delhi, Mathura, Agra and other places to provide information to the public.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety will conduct an inquiry into the accident, official sources added.
NetIndian News Network / New Delhi, October 21, 2009
