Train services on the Howrah-Chennai route resumed one day after a collision involving two passenger trains in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh resulted in the tragic loss of 13 lives and left 50 individuals injured.
According to a Railway official, 50 injured passengers had been transferred to hospitals in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the injured individuals at the Government General Hospital in Vizianagaram. Accompanied by Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, Vizianagaram district Collector S Nagalakshmi, and other officials, the Chief Minister inspected the treatment facilities and spoke with the victims.
What happened?
Officials from the East Coast Railway (ECR) revealed that around 7 pm on Sunday, the Rayagada Passenger train collided with the Palasa Passenger train from behind at Kantakapalli, approximately 40 km from the accident site, causing three coaches to derail.
Among the wreckage, five coaches and the locomotives were severely damaged, with three coaches belonging to the leading train (Palasa Passenger) and two coaches along with the engine belonging to the Rayagada Passenger, as per Waltair DRM Saurabh Prasad.
Train services restored
Through coordinated multi-departmental efforts led by railway authorities, train services were successfully restored on the Howrah-Chennai Railway line within 19 hours of the accident. The first train, a freight one, passed on the down line at 2:23 pm, and the first train on the up line also resumed service.
The Railway Board and the Andhra Pradesh state government collaborated to provide relief and facilitate restoration work. More than 1,000 workers, staff, and supervisors from various departments, including the operation of a 140-ton crane and over 10 excavators, were involved in these efforts.
As part of the relief operation, the local district administration received ambulances, accident relief trains, medical teams, senior doctors, and other resources. Alongside Waltair DRM Saurabh Prasad, ECR General Manager Manoj Sharma also visited the accident site to oversee relief and restoration operations.
In the interim, the Vizianagaram district administration completed post-mortem procedures on 12 bodies and subsequently handed them over to their respective families, as reported by District Collector S. Nagalakshmi.
CM Reddy urges inspection for PAN-India rail lines
Earlier in the day, CM Jagan Mohan Reddy urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to conduct a comprehensive audit of all railway lines in the country. Expressing his deep concern over the incident, Reddy directed officials to provide an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the deceased and to those survivors who have suffered permanent disabilities.
He also instructed officials to extend Rs 2 lakh in compensation to injured individuals who recover within a month and are discharged from the hospital, as well as Rs 5 lakh to victims who require hospitalization beyond one month. In the aftermath of the train collision, several train services were either canceled, rescheduled, or diverted.