In Uttar Pradesh, two train
accidents took place this morning i.e. on 2nd
January,2009 in Tundla-Kanpur Section
of Allahabad Division under North Central Railway.
The
First Accident took place at 08.05 Hrs near Etawah in
which 4006 New Delhi-Sitamarhi Lichchavi
Express collided from behind with the 2402 New Delhi -Islampur
Magadh Express. As a result of this accident, the
rear passenger- cum- luggage cum- guard (SLR) coach of Magadh
Express got derailed. Only the driver of the Lichchavi
Express received simple injury and all the passengers of both the trains were safe .
In
the second accident, 2556 Bhiwani-New Delhi -Gorakhpur
Gorakhdam Express collided from behind with 2418 New Delhi -Allahabad Prayagraj
Express,at Panki near Kanpur at 09.00 Hrs. As a result of this accident, three rear
coaches of Prayagraj Express got derailed. Two of the
coaches were ordinary second class general coaches while
third was passenger-cum-luggage –cum- guard (SLR) coach. . Ten Persons died and 42
passengers injured, out of them 19 seriously . The
injured were admitted in different Hospitals in Kanpur.
The relief trains and
the medical relief trains were rushed to the site from Kanpur and Tundla
alongwith the senior officials of the railways.
Minister of Railways Kumari Mamata
Banerjee has been continuously monitoring the situation since morning. She directed Senior officials of Railway Board namely Member (Mechnical) Shri Parveen Kumar, Member (Electrical) Shri
Sudesh Kumar and Director- General (Railway Health
Services) Dr. V.K. Ramteke to rush to the site to
supervise the relief operations.
The
Minister expressed
her deep condolences to the families of those
who died in the accident. The
Railway Minister also announced an increased amount of ex-gratia
payments to the victims of the accidents. In case of death the amount announced
is Ra 5 lakh. In case of grievous injury, the amount
is Rs 1 lakh and Rs. 10,000/- in case of simple injury. An inquiry has also been ordered into the
accidents which will be conducted by Shri P.K.
Vajpayee, Commissioner of
Railway Safety, North-East Circle, Lucknow, Ministry of Civil Aviation,
Government of India.
The
telephonic help lines were set up at various stations served by all the
four ill-fated trains to give information to the public. These included Kanpur Central, Allahabad. New Delhi, Delhi Hazrat Nizamuddin,
Ghaziabad, Bhiwani,
Bikaner, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Banaras, Lucknow, Basti, Mau, Chhapra, Siwan, Patna, Hajipur, Sonepur, Muzzarfapur, Samastipur, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga MughalSarai. The
details of the accident have also been made available on the website of North
Central Railway namely www.ncr.railnet.gov.in.
Free
Breakfast & Lunch Packets were distributed to stranded passengers at Kanpur Central and Etawah
Stations. The Stranded passengers of the
ill-fated trains have since been cleared towards respective destinations through
diverted routes. Adequate No. of road vehicles were also deployed to clear the
stranded passengers from Kanpur and Etawah.
As a result of these two accidents, the rail
traffic got disrupted and efforts are on to restore it by midnight tonight.
AKS/RS