A scheduled direction reversal of the 13174 Agartala-Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express at Lumding proved to be fatal for some passengers, while saving lives of some others. The scheduled reversal caused a change in the position of the coaches of the train as well, which was struck from behind by a goods train at Rangapani, near New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.
Due to the reversal, the coaches which were initially at the front became the rear end of the train.
A passenger in a sleeper coach situated in the middle of the train recounted, “The affected coaches were in the front till Lumding.” He explained that after the direction reversal, the affected four coaches—a general seating coach, two parcel vans, and a guard van—ended up at the rear. He noted that the general seating coach was the most impacted, having been thrown onto adjacent tracks.
“Our train was moving very slowly when it reached Rangapani, a few kilometers from New Jalpaiguri,” the passenger said.
Another passenger described experiencing a sudden, sharp jerk accompanied by a loud noise, followed by the train coming to an abrupt stop. Upon disembarking, he saw that a goods train had collided with their rake from behind.
Is the anti-collision system ‘Kavach’ in place on the train’s route?
Chairperson of the Railway Board Jaya Varma Sinha revealed that the anti-train collision system, ‘Kavach’, is still not in place along the Guwahati-Delhi route, where the collision occurred. Varma said that Kavach is being planned for the route. “It is not there right now,” she said.
“We are doing everything to ensure that train operations remain safe,” she added.
Sinha mentioned that the implementation of ‘Kavach’ is being carried out in mission mode. She noted that it is already operational on 1,500 km of railway tracks, with an additional 3,000 km to be completed by the end of this year.
(With PTI inputs)