Train collision in northern India kills 12

Railway services across India were diverted as one express train crashed into another after failing to stop at the signal.

Rescue workers att he crash site where two express trains collided, some 7 km from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, India on 30 September 2014. Fourteen people died in the accident, while dozens were injurShow more

LUCKNOW, India // A train overshot a stop signal and plowed into another express passenger train in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, killing 12 people and injuring dozen.

Three coaches of the Barauni Express derailed and toppled after the Krishak Express crashed into it near Gorakhpur city station late on Tuesday, said Madhuresh Kumar, an Indian railways general manager.

Railway services across northern India were disrupted, and several trains were diverted to alternative routes.

The bodies of 12 passengers were pulled out of the mangled coaches of the Barauni while 44 people from that train were injured, he said.

The driver of the Krishak Express and his assistant were suspended on reports that their train had overshot a stop signal before the crash, said Alok Kumar, a railway spokesman. Investigators will determine whether the train overshot the signal due to mechanical failure or human error.

Passengers who were on the Barauni said the train was packed with construction workers who were returning home for the Hindu festival of Dusshera, which will be celebrated on Friday.

“There were more than 100 people in my coach and many of them were getting ready to get off at the Gorakhpur station, when there was this huge bang,” said one of the passengers, Ramesh Chaudhry.

“I was standing near the door when the engine of the Krishak Express hit the rear of my coach and it fell off the track. I fell onto a pile of luggage and was saved,” Mr Chaudhry said. “But the person standing next to me did not survive.”

He said local villagers helped pull many people from the train, and that police did not immediately arrive at the scene.

Gorakhpur is about 340 kilometres east of the state capital, Lucknow.

Accidents are common on India’s railroad network, one of the world’s largest, with 23 million people riding daily on about 11,000 passenger trains.

Most accidents have been blamed on poor maintenance and human error.

* Associated Press