NEW DELHI/BUXAR, Oct 12: Fault in railway tracks was the possible cause of derailment of all the coaches of the Delhi-Kamakhya North East Express in Bihar, sources said on Thursday citing a preliminary investigation report.
At least four people were killed and several injured in the accident in Bihar’s Buxar district on Wednesday night.
“It seems that derailment occurred due to fault in the tracks,” the report, signed by six railway officials, stated.
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However, other railway officials pointed out that the train was brought to a sudden halt by applying brakes when it was travelling at great speed.
The guard of the Assam-bound train, Vijay Kumar, recalled that he felt brakes had been suddenly applied, which was followed by jerks.
“I was busy with my paperwork when I realized that the driver suddenly applied brakes. This was followed by a few jerks and I fainted. Later, I found myself in the adjoining fields, where villagers were sprinkling drops of water on my face,” said Kumar, who has sustained minor injuries.
Highlighting the condition of passenger coaches, the report stated that all 22 coaches and the engine derailed, two of them were fully capsized and two others turned turtle.
The probe report has estimated the cost of damage due to the accident at more than Rs 52 crore.
The loco pilot, Vipin Kumar Sinha, suffered minor injuries and his assistant sustained serious injuries in the accident.
The report also contained a statement from Sinha who said that the train passed Raghunathpur station, near which the accident occurred, at a speed of 128 km per hour, but soon after it crossed the station it suffered a severe jolt at the rear end with excessive vibration.
As a result of the excessive vibration and the severe jolt, the brake pipe pressure dropped suddenly and the train derailed at 9:52 pm, the preliminary report quoted the loco pilot as saying.
According to Sinha’s statement, he took charge of the train from Deen Dayal Upadhyay station at 8:27 pm when everything was fine. He said that the train reached Buxar at 9:29 pm when the assistant loco pilot again did an inspection of the engine and found everything fine.
The report also quoted a gateman and a pointsman at the Raghunathpur station as saying that they saw sparks coming from near the wheels of the train.
“As per statement from the gateman of LC (Level Crossing) Gate no 59B, train no 12506 passed the gate and just after passing 8-10 coaches, he observed sparking and heard heavy noise,” the report stated.
The report stated a breath analyzer test of the loco pilot and his assistant was negative.
At least four people died and several were injured when the train derailed near Raghunathpur in Bihar’s Buxar district on Wednesday night.
An eight-year-old girl, identified as Akriti Bhandari, and her mother Usha Bhandari (37) who were travelling to Assam were among the four passengers who died in the derailment, the chief public relations officer (CPRO) of the East Central Railway said.
“The girl’s father and a twin sister of Akriti, who was also travelling with them, survived the accident. Narendra Kumar from Rajasthan and Abu Zayed (27) from Purnia were the other two who lost their lives. Zayed’s friend, who was travelling with him, survived the accident,” the CPRO added.
He also said that many people, who received minor injuries and were discharged within hours of the accident, were accommodated in a special train which left for the destination stations.
“Based on the medical advice of doctors, we are providing ambulance facilities to passengers to be dropped at home even if they are from distant places in Bihar and West Bengal,” the CPRO said.
Apart from the four dead, 30 passengers, including six women and two children, were injured when the train derailed near the Raghunathpur station.
According to information provided by the East Central Railway zone, injured passengers have been identified as Deepak Bhandari (38), Juli Singh (24), Pradeep Kumar (25), Sujal Rai (25), Subhash Chandra Roy (35), Bodya Roy (40), Goutam Manjunder (22), Darksha Khatoon (12), Anu mai Burman (60), Santosh Kr Burman (46), Mukti Ram Burman (58), Mukesh Kumar (24), Reena Burman (45), Tarun Burman (26), Shirajul (36), Ravi Kumar, Jahadur Rahman, Sabnam Khatun (35), Najrana Khatun (23), Sahid (4), Kartik Yadav (24), Vivek Kumar (29), Devanti Devi (60), Satyanarayan Gupta (63), Rakesh Kumar (30), Ved Prakash Prajapati, Md. Ladu (29), Dayanand Kumar, Sudip Ravidas (25) and Lal Bahadur Chitri (37).
Meanwhile, railway authorities said an ex-gratia amount has been paid to almost all victims or their immediate family members except a few including one of the deceased Narendra, a resident of Rajasthan.
However, Bihar government officials maintained that family members of Narendra have been informed and they are expected to arrive at Buxar tonight. (PTI)
