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Mystery shrouds train collision in India

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Mystery shrouded the collision of two passenger trains, Uttarbanga Express and Vananchal Express, early Monday morning at the Sainthia station in Birbhum district in the western Indian state of West Bengal, which saw at least 63 killed and over 150 others injured.

At least 60 passengers were killed and 90 injured on July 19 when the speeding Sealdah-bound Uttarbanga Express rammed into the rear of the Vananchal Express pulling out of the Sainthia station in Birbhum district of West Bengal, eastern Indian. [Xinhua]

Out of the nearly 150 injured, 40 are in critical condition while the bodies of 23 people have been identified.

"Preliminary probe into Monday's train mishap has indicated that Uttarbanga Express was moving at a speed of over 60 km per hour, nearly 40 km per hour more than the limit, and overshot the signal resulting in the fatal incident," Railway Board Chairman Vivek Sahay told reporters late Monday evening explaining the sequence of events.

"The train, on its way to Sealdah from Coochbehar in West Bengal, was supposed to halt at the Sainthia Station, but it did not and rammed into the stationary Vananchal Express, bound for Ranchi, from behind," he added.

"The Driver M. C. Dey along with assistant driver N. K. Mandal died on the spot in the accident. Dey was a category 'A' driver and had an unblemished accident-free record and was promoted recently. Moreover, he had adequate rest before taking charge of the train at Malda station, five hours before the accident," Sahay stated.

The guard of the Vananchal Express A. Mukherjee also died in the mishap which was so severe that the roof and the sides of one of the compartments mounted the road overbridge across the tracks in the station, 191 km from Kolkata, in Eastern Railway.

Sahay further said that "incidentally, Dey seemed to have even overlooked the speed restriction of 30 km per hour on a bridge just ahead of the station and was racing ahead." Prior to the accident, Dey had a conversation with the Railway Station staff at Rampurhat, which falls just ahead of Sainthia, and that showed that he was in absolute control of the train, ruling out the possibility of his being in inebriated condition, Sahay said.

"What is more surprising is that while the hand breaks stop the train within 350 meters, they had seen the Vananchal Express more than 500 meters ahead and still made no effort to stop the train. Their bodies were found on their respective chairs which means they did not even try to jump off the train to save their own lives," he added.

The Uttarbanga Express was headed to Sealdah when it crashed into the Vananchal Express.

The maximum casualties were in the two unreserved bogies of the Vananchal Express which was deeply impacted by the collision.

Union Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a compensation of 500,000 rupees (10,000 U.S. dollars) and employment to one member of each family of the dead.

Meanwhile, the Railways did not rule out the possibility of sabotage in the train collision.

"Nothing can be ruled out. It may be possible that our equipment might have been tampered with. It will be known only after inquiry," Eastern Railways General Manager V.N. Tripathy said here.

"The toll may rise as some are still battling for life in hospital," he added.

This the second time in less than two months for a heavy killer train accident to have taken place in West Bengal.

On May 28, a passenger train derailed and was hit by a cargo train, killing some 150 people.

Authorities blame extreme left-wing Naxal rebels for sabotaging tracks at that time, but the rebels have denied.

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