Kanchanjunga Express Accident: Passengers Feel Lucky to Be Alive Upon Reaching Kolkata

Kanchanjunga Express Accident: Passengers Feel Lucky to Be Alive Upon Reaching Kolkata

At roughly 3:15 a.m. on Tuesday, the Kanchanjunga Express, which was struck by a cargo train close to New Jalpaiguri in north Bengal, killing nine people, arrived in Sealdah, Kolkata. A female traveler described her trip as a nightmare in her narrative. “I am here to talk to you today because of God’s mercy.” I am unable to adequately describe our experiences. I slipped off the highest tier due to a strong jerk. She described it to the media as a nightmare.

“I have to go to work in north Bengal quite a bit via train. However, I’m terrified now. One of the B2 coach passengers commented, “I feel like I have a new lease on life.” Around Rangapani, about 10 km south of New Jalpaiguri (NJP), at 8:55 a.m. on Monday, a goods train crashed into the back end of the Kanchanjunga Express, which was headed towards Sealdah. Five coaches of the goods train were derailed, while four coaches of the Kanchanjunga Express—a general compartment, two package coaches, and the guard van—were damaged.

Around midday on Monday, the Kanchanjunga Express, carrying 1,293 people, started up its trip towards Kolkata with its 19 unaffected coaches. Railway officials have stated that in addition to cleaning the down line, service has already resumed on the up line. The Northeast Frontier Railway’s (NFR) chief public relations officer, Sabyasachi De, stated, “The down line was cleared at around 7:30am on Tuesday, while the upline was cleared by around 5:40pm on Tuesday and the first goods train passed around 8pm.”

Coaches at the accident scene remained scattered across the tracks, forcing many trains, including the Rajdhani Express and Vande Bharat Express, to be rerouted through Bagdogra and Aluabari on Monday. Hospital officials stated they are determining the precise number of deaths in the train accident at New Jalpaiguri in north Bengal, but the death toll remained at nine.

Three bodies could not be identified, but six were identified and have already been given to the family members. As of Monday night, nine people had passed away. One of the bodies had one leg severed and the other missing. “We are uncertain if the leg is the same person’s or someone else’s,” a top physician from North Bengal Medical College and Hospital stated.

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Train officials stated that a combination of a signaling error on the tracks before the New Jalpaiguri station and human error by the freight train driver is likely to have resulted in a fatal collision, despite Railway Board Chairperson Jaya Verma Sinha’s statement on Monday that the driver of the goods train had ignored the signal.

Source: Hindustan Times