INDIA: THE 2023 ODISHA TRAIN COLLISION AND OTHER TRAGIC RAIL DISASTER 

Did you know that the deadliest train incident in India is the Bihar train derailment which occurred in 1981 and claimed over 700 lives?

On Friday, 2 June 2023, a train collision occured in Odisha state in eastern India, near the city of Balasore that involved three trains: the passenger trains 12841 Coromandel Express and 12864 SMVT Bengaluru–Howrah SF Express, as well as a goods train. As of Saturday, 3 June 2023, at least 288 people were killed and around 900 were injured in the incident, with many in critical condition.

It was believed that the first train derailed and some of its carriages overturned and ended up in the opposite track where they were struck by the second train. However, the train incident has brought back memories of other train wrecks. The country has witnessed deadly rail accidents in the past 20 years. Below is a summary compilation of rail incident in the country:

1) 1981 BIHAR TRAIN DERAILMENT | 750+ killed

In the Indian state of Bihar, on June 6, 1981, a passenger train carrying more than 800 passengers between Mansi (Dhamara Pul) and Saharsa, India derailed and plunged into the river Bagmati while it was crossing a bridge. After five days, more than 200 bodies were recovered, with hundreds more missing that were feared washed away by the river. Estimates of total deaths range from 500 to 800 or more. By the afternoon of June 12, the government had completed its recovery efforts and had issued an official death toll of 235 passengers (including the bodies of 3 passengers which had not been recovered), with 88 survivors. The crash is among the deadliest-ever rail accidents in India.

2) FIROZABAD RAIL DISASTER | 358 killed

The Firozabad rail disaster occurred on 20 August 1995 near Firozabad on the Delhi-Kanpur section of India's Northern Railway, at 02:55 when a passenger train collided with a train which had stopped after hitting a nilgai, killing 358 people (although some sources estimate the deaths at more than 400). The accident happened in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh; both trains were bound for the Indian capital, New Delhi. The first train, the "Kalindi Express" from Kanpur struck a nilgai but was unable to proceed as its brakes were damaged. It was then struck from behind at a speed of 70 km/h by the Purushottam Express from Puri. Three carriages of the Kalindi express were destroyed, the engine and front two carriages of the Puri train were derailed. Most of the 2200 passengers aboard the two trains were asleep at the time of the accident.

3) 1999 GAISAL TRAIN DISASTER | 285 killed 

The Gaisal train disaster occurred on 2 August 1999, when two trains carrying about 2,500 people collided at the remote station of Gaisal in West Bengal. Owing to a signalling error, both trains were using the same track on a day when three of the four tracks on the line were closed for maintenance. Their combined speeds were so great that the trains exploded on impact, killing at least 290 people. The official death toll released was set at 285 killed and over 300 injured in the crash. Unofficial totals have claimed that over 1000 or even more were killed, including 90 soldiers. This is possible because although there were only 72 seats in each of the seven general compartments that were involved in the accident, all of them were crowded far beyond capacity. Moreover, there were many ticketless travelers who were not included in the official count. Because of the nature of the crash and fire, as well as the large number of ticketless people who may have been on the trains, the bodies could not be separately identified. There has also been speculation that explosives carried on the military train may have been the cause of the explosion following the impact, rather than the trains themselves. This has been denied by the Indian military, but has remained a controversial issue.

4) KHANNA RAIL DISASTER | 212 killed

The Khanna rail disaster occurred on 26 November 1998 near Khanna on the Khanna-Ludhiana section of India's Northern Railway in Punjab, at 03:15 when the Calcutta-bound Jammu Tawi-Sealdah Express collided with six derailed coaches of the Amritsar-bound "Frontier Mail" which were lying in its path. At least 212 were killed; in total the trains were estimated to be carrying 2,500 passengers. The initial derailment was caused by a broken rail.

5) RAFIGANJ TRAIN WRECK | 200 killed

The Rafiganj rail disaster was the derailment of a train on a bridge over the Dhave River in North-Central India, on 10 September 2002. At least 130 people were killed in the accident, which was reportedly due to sabotage by a local Maoist terrorist group, the Naxalites. The train had left Howrah with over 1,000 people on board six hours before, and was heading towards New Delhi when the tragedy happened. Fifteen of the eighteen train cars derailed and fell across the tracks, two of them tumbling into the river beneath. People from other carriages were also thrown into the water by the force of the crash. The death toll continued to rise over the next weeks. The river was searched for bodies. Several were found near villages downstream. The full death toll is unlikely to ever be known. In all, 130 bodies were recovered, but some sources claim that as many as 50 people are still missing, although the government has not responded to this issue. Some news reports give the figure of those killed as high as 200. At least 150 people were injured.

6) PAMBAN BRIDGE | 150+ killed

Pamban Bridge is a railway bridge that connects the town of Mandapam in mainland India with Rameswaram on Pamban Island. Opened on 24 February 1914, it was India's first sea bridge, and was the longest sea bridge in India until the opening of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in 2010. The rail bridge is, for the most part, a conventional bridge resting on concrete piers but has a double-leaf bascule section midway, which can be raised to let ships and barges pass through. Until 1988, the Pamban bridge was the only surface transport that connected Tamil Nadu's island of Rameswaram to the mainland India. On 23 December 1964, an estimated 7.6 m (25 ft) storm surge struck the island, overturning the Pamban-Dhanuskodi passenger train killing more than 200 passengers on board. 

7) JNANESWARI EXPRESS TRAIN DERAILMENT | 148 killed

On 28 May 2010, a Jnaneshwari Express train derailed at about 1 am in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal, India (between the Sardiha and Khemasuli railway stations near Jhargram). It was disputed as to whether sabotage or a bomb caused damage on the railway track, which in turn led to the derailment, before an oncoming goods train hit the loose carriages and resulted in the deaths of at least 148 passengers.

Source: Wikipedia | Image Credit: SBS News