India will initiate an investigation on Tuesday into a train collision in West Bengal that resulted in nine deaths and injured over 50 people. This inquiry follows statements from a senior railway official attributing the accident to driver error.
The incident occurred when a freight train collided with a passenger train en route to Kolkata from Tripura. Initial reports of 15 fatalities were made; however, this number was later revised to nine.
Chetan Kumar Shrivastava, the general manager of the Northeast Frontier Railway where the crash occurred, confirmed that the investigation will start soon. It will include eyewitness testimonies, examination of official documents, and evaluation of railway safety protocols like signalling.
India’s lead railway official reported that the freight train’s driver, who died in the crash, had missed a crucial signal. This error led to the collision with the Kanchanjunga Express near a Darjeeling district railway station.
At the time, the passenger train carried approximately 1,400 individuals. Reports surfaced that an automatic signalling system malfunctioned that morning, prompting officials to issue “paper signals” advising drivers to reduce speed.
Following the crash, opposition leaders criticized the safety record under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, linking it to negligence. This incident echoes a tragic event from just over a year prior in Odisha, where a signalling mistake caused one of India’s deadliest rail crashes, killing about 288 people.
Indian Railways, often challenged by overcrowding, remains the world’s fourth-largest network, transporting 13 million passengers and 1.5 billion tonnes of freight daily in 2022.
Jaya Varma Sinha, head of India’s railway board, stressed the need to minimize human error and mentioned the ongoing installation of a national anti-collision system.
As of Tuesday, rail services on the impacted tracks have partially resumed, with some trains rerouted and others operating at reduced speeds.
