200 major railway accidents took place in past five years, 351 people killed, show data 

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that ten years ago, Railway reported 171 accidents per year which has come down to 40 per year now - lead text 

Over the last five years, 351 persons died and 970 were injured in 200 consequential railway accidents, data shared by the Indian Railways from 17 railway zones reveal.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday, while inspecting the Kolkata-based PSU Braithwaite and Co, said that while 10 years ago there were 171 accidents per year, this had come down to 40 accidents now.

The Railways has disbursed ₹32 crore in compensation during the five years — 2019-20 to 2023-24. Of this amount, ₹26.83 crore had been given to the next of kin of those killed in train accidents and ₹7 crore to those who were injured.

The Indian Railways defines a consequential train accident as one with serious repercussions, including injuries, loss of life, disruption of rail traffic and damage to railway property. Accidents can include derailments, collisions, fire in the train and so on.

The data was shared in reply to a Right to Information query filed by RTI activist Vivek Pandey.

As many as 297 persons died and 637 were injured in the 10 most consequential accidents, including Balasore triple train tragedy in June last year. This was followed by East Coast Railway zone, which saw 15 accidents that caused 20 deaths and 79 injuries. The most recent major accident was the Kanchanjunga Express accident that claimed 10 lives and occurred in July earlier this year.

In Central Railway zone, there were 22 accidents with one death and two injuries. In Eastern Railway, there were 12 accidents with one death and nine injuries while East Central zone saw 18 accidents with eight deaths and 33 injuries.

In the North Central zone, 21 accidents were reported that caused two deaths and 49 injuries, while the Northern Railway reported 25 accidents with five deaths and five injuries.

South Central Railway reported 12 accidents with one death and 26 injuries, while South East Central zone reported nine accidents with three deaths and six injuries.

North East Frontier Railway saw nine accidents with nine deaths and 45 injuries, while North Western Zone saw ten accidents with 70 injuries. West Central zone reported seven accidents with one death and nine injuries, while Western zone reported 12 accidents with three deaths.

Among the safer zones are North Eastern zone that reported two accidents, Konkan Railway which had three accidents, and South Western as well as Southern Railway Zones that reported nine and four accidents, respectively, with no casualties, data shared by the Ministry of Railway states.

Published - October 03, 2024 04:53 am IST