At least 23 people were killed and 81 others injured when a passenger train derailed in India on Saturday.

Six coaches of the train came off the tracks in the northern Uttar Pradesh state, near the town of Khatuli.

State official Arvind Kumar said two of the coaches had telescoped into one another, while four others toppled onto their sides. </s> PUKHRAYAN, India/NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - At least 119 people were killed and more than 150 injured when an Indian express train derailed near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, with the toll set to rise amid a scramble to locate survivors.

Rescue workers search for survivors at the site of a train derailment in Pukhrayan, south of Kanpur city, November 20, 2016. REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash

Police officials said people were still missing as authorities tried to determine what caused 14 carriages of the train travelling between Patna and Indore to suddenly roll off the tracks in Pukhrayan, 65 km south of Kanpur city.

Authorities said they were checking the condition of the tracks but would need to look further before concluding the cause of the derailment, India’s deadliest rail tragedy since more than 140 died in a 2010 collision in West Bengal.

Desperate survivors searched for family members and some tried to enter the damaged carriages to rescue relatives and collect belongings, said senior railway official Pratap Rai.

“We are using every tactic to save lives but it’s very difficult to cut the metal carriages,” he said from the accident site.

Kanpur district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma told Reuters that 119 people were confirmed dead, while 78 of the injured remained in hospital, four of them in a critical condition.

With rescue teams still looking for victims amid the wreckage, the toll from the derailment could rise to become India’s worst rail tragedy in this century.

In what was probably India’s worst rail disaster, a train plunged off a bridge and into a river in 1981 in Bihar state, killing an estimated 500 to 800 people.

India’s creaking railway system is the world’s fourth largest. It runs 11,000 trains a day, including 7,000 passenger trains carrying more than 20 million people. But it has a poor safety record, with thousands of people dying in accidents every year, including in train derailments and collisions.

Suresh Prabhu, India’s railways minister, said in a tweet that the government would investigate the causes of the derailment and promised accountability with the “strictest possible action”, as well as compensation for the affected passengers.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “passed on words of sympathy and support to the relatives and loved ones of the dead and wished a fast recovery of the injured.”

MANGLED CARRIAGES

The packed train, operated by the government, derailed in the early hours of Sunday when more than 500 passengers were sleeping, survivors said.

TV footage showed mangled blue carriages, with crowds of people and police on top of the wreckage searching for survivors. One carriage was almost lying on its side and appeared to have been completely torn apart.

Rescue officials with yellow helmets worked their way through the crowds, carrying victims from the wreckage as teams struggled to remove the derailed wagons from the tracks, one of the main transportation routes for goods and passengers in northern India.

“Suddenly I could feel that the carriage was overturning. I immediately held the metal rod near the bathroom door,” said Faizal Khan, who was travelling with his wife and two children, all of whom survived the accident.

Another survivor, Rajdeep Tanwar, said. “I can see bodies lying near the tracks, everyone is in a state of shock. There is no water or food for us.”

Buses were being pressed into service to help passengers complete their journey, said police additional director general Daljeet Singh Choudhary.

Rescue teams said they would conclude the search operation before night fall and resume it on Monday. Nearby villagers set up temporary kitchens and erected tents for survivors and officials.

PUSH TO MODERNISE

Modi, who started out selling tea outside a train station, has promised to modernise India’s railways and build high-speed lines befitting Asia’s third-largest economy.

His government has pledged to replace old tracks and upgrade security infrastructure but little progress has been made so far. More than 90 percent of the railways’ revenues are spent on operational costs, leaving next to nothing for modernisation.

By some analyst estimates, the railways need 20 trillion rupees ($293.34 billion) of investment by 2020, and India is turning to partnerships with private companies and seeking loans from other countries to upgrade its network.

Last year, Japan agreed to provide $12 billion in soft loans to build India’s first bullet train.

Slideshow (12 Images)

On Sunday, Modi took to Twitter to express his condolences.

“Anguished beyond words on the loss of lives due to the derailing of the Patna-Indore express. My thoughts are with the bereaved families,” Modi said.

($1 = 68.1805 Indian rupees) </s> Train derails in India killing about 20 people and injuring scores more

Posted

A train has come off the tracks in northern India killing about 20 people and injuring scores more, as carriages slammed into each other.

Rescuers and local people worked into the night searching for survivors in the overturned and mangled carriages, some piled on top of each other.

The death toll in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was expected to rise, officials said.

At least eight carriages derailed in the crash close to Muzaffarnagar, about 130 kilometres north of the capital New Delhi, as the train travelled towards the Hindu holy city of Haridwar, police said.

Train crashes are frequent in India, which has the world's fourth-largest rail network.

Poor investment in past decades in the vast network and rising demand means overcrowded trains are running on creaking infrastructure.

Saturday's accident is at least the fourth major passenger train derailment this year and the third in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

A crash in November in Uttar Pradesh killed 150 people.

A senior police officer in the state, Anand Kumar, said close to 20 people had been killed and more than 80 injured.

The national authorities sent disaster teams to help.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a message on Twitter saying he was pained by the derailment of the Utkal Express, offering condolences to families of those killed and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.

Reuters

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, rail, india </s> Indian authorities wrapped up rescue operations in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday after a train derailed, killing at least six people, and injuring around 25.

The accident occurred around 6:30 am on Wednesday near Rae Bareli when several coaches of a New Delhi-bound train derailed, a National Disaster Management Authority official, Niraj Kumar told EFE. </s> PM Modi sends condolences as at 23 killed and scores injured after train connecting Haridwar and Puri comes off tracks.

At least 23 passengers were killed and 64 others injured after an express train derailed in north India, officials said, as rescuers attempted to free people trapped in the wreckage.

The accident took place near Khatauli in the state of Uttar Pradesh, about 100km northeast of the national capital, New Delhi.

"Twenty-three people have died and 64 others are injured in the accident. Rescue and relief operations are continuing," G S Priyadarshi, a civil official at the accident site, told AFP.

The injured were taken to a hospital, where doctors described their condition as stable.

READ MORE: Dozens killed after train derails in southern India

Cranes lifted derailed coaches and gas cutters were used to reach people feared to be trapped, the IANS news agency reported.

Railway police and local volunteers were seen trying to help passengers out of the upturned coaches of the Kalinga-Utkal Express, which connects the Hindu holy city of Haridwar with the temple town of Puri, in the eastern state of Orissa.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known, Sharma said.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered an inquiry into the train derailment.

"Strict action will be taken against any lapse," he tweeted. "I am personally monitoring the situation. Have instructed senior officers to reach the site immediately and ensure speedy rescue and relief operations."

The minister has announced a compensation of $5,500 for the kin of deceased passengers.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter he was pained by the accident, offered condolences to families of those killed, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Train accidents are common in India, where more than 22 million passengers use the rail system daily.

Saturday's accident is at least the fourth major passenger train derailment this year and the third in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

Over 250 people were killed across the country in train accidents in 2015 and 2016.

In June, Reuters reported that a planned $15bn safety overhaul of India's rail network faced delays as the state steel company could not meet demand for new rails.

The network is in the middle of a $130bn, five-year modernisation.

The government launched the additional safety overhaul programme in February to tackle a surge in train accidents in the past two years blamed on defective tracks. </s> New Farakka Express: Five dead, 30 injured after train derailment in India

RAEBARELI: At least five people died and 30 were injured on Wednesday when New Farakka Express derailed in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, media reported.



The accident took place in Harchandpur, located some 77 km (48 miles) south of the state capital Lucknow, Reuters partner ANI News said in a Tweet.

Emergency rescue teams are currently at the accident site, television reports said. </s> LUCKNOW, India (AP) — At least 74 people were injured after a train derailed in Uttar Pradesh, the second train accident in the northern Indian state in the last three days, officials said Wednesday.

The Kafiyat Express derailed at 2:40 a.m. when a truck carrying sand for construction overturned on the tracks near Auraiya town.

Senior state government official Arvind Kumar said the train driver was forced to brake and the impact caused eight coaches and the engine to go off the rails.

On Sunday, 23 people were killed after 14 coaches of a train derailed in a different part of the state. An investigation has been ordered into that accident.

Accidents are relatively common on India’s huge but badly maintained railway network. The government-run rail network operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 23 million passengers every day but safety has been a concern amid a spate of accidents. </s> LUCKNOW, India -- Six coaches of a passenger train derailed in northern India on Saturday, killing 23 people and leaving at least 81 others wounded, officials said.

Two of the coaches telescoped into each other, while four others toppled over after going off the track, said Arvind Kumar, a top official in Uttar Pradesh, the state where the derailment occurred.

Neeraj Sharma, a railway spokesman, said the incident took place near the small town of Khatauli.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known, Sharma said.

Railway police and local volunteers helped pull passengers out of the upturned coaches of the Kalinga-Utkal Express, which connects the Hindu holy city of Haridwar with the temple town of Puri, in the eastern state of Orissa.

"We are struggling to pull out injured, and are waiting for gas cutters to arrive. It's too dark to launch a full-fledged search operation, but our teams are trying their best," senior police officer Ajay Pandey told Reuters news agency.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that he was pained by the derailment and offered condolences to families of the victims.

Reuters reported in June, citing two government documents, that a planned $15 billion safety overhaul of India's ageing rail network faced delays as the state steel company was unable to meet demands for new rails. </s> LUCKNOW, India — Six coaches of a passenger train derailed in northern India on Saturday, killing 23 people and injuring at least 81, officials said.

Two of the coaches telescoped into each other, while four others toppled over after going off the track, said Arvind Kumar, a top official in Uttar Pradesh, the state where the derailment occurred.

Neeraj Sharma, a railway spokesman, said the incident took place near the small town of Khatauli.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known, Sharma said.

Railway police and local volunteers helped pull passengers out of the upturned coaches of the Kalinga-Utkal Express, which connects the Hindu holy city of Haridwar with the temple town of Puri, in the eastern state of Orissa.

The injured were taken to a hospital, where doctors described their condition as stable.
A train derails near Khatauli, Uttar Pradesh, India, resulting in at least 23 deaths and 156 injuries.