A passenger train smashed into the rear of another that had just begun to roll out of Sainthia station in West Bengal?s Birbhum district early Monday, leaving at least 60 dead and over 90 injured. Three coaches of the Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express were completely destroyed; one climbed on to the overbridge above the platform.
The drivers of the train that rammed the Vananchal Express?the New Cooch Behar-Sealdah Uttarbanga Express?appeared to have ignored red signals as they barrelled into platform 4 at an unusually high speed. Neither of the two men seemed to have made an attempt to jump out, and both died in their seats. ?This is very unusual. There was something wrong with the loco pilots (of the Uttarbanga Express),? Vivek Sahai, chairman, Railway Board (CRB), said after returning from the crash site.
Eastern Railway general manager VN Tripathy had earlier said ?nothing? could be ruled out, including the possibility of ?chherchhaar? (tampering) with railway equipment. Railway minister Mamata Banerjee had said, ?I am suspicious about the cause of the accident.?
According to Matar Let, the cabin master on duty, the crash occurred at 2.04 am, as the Vananchal was moving out of Sainthia. The train had arrived at 1.46 am, nearly five hours after its scheduled time of 8.54 pm, and had lingered on the platform for at least 12 minutes after it was cleared to leave. The Uttarbanga reached the station a little after 20 minutes past its scheduled time of 1.38 am. ?The Vananchal Express came in at 0146 hours, and I gave it the signal to leave at 0152,? said Let. ?The Uttarbanga was given the signal to enter Sainthia at 0157, and the accident took place at 0204,? he added.
Let?s account seemed in apparent contradiction to that of CRB Sahai, who said ?the signal (for the Uttarbanga) was red?, and that this had been ?verified by the Member (Electrical), Railway Board?.
