Train crash in India leaves at least 8 dead, dozens injured

The death toll is expected to rise after the collision between a passenger train and a goods train in the state of West Bengal.

A freight train collided with a passenger train in eastern India on Monday, killing at least eight people and injuring 50 others, officials said .

The episode occurred around 9 a.m. while the Kanchanjunga Express, which was carrying passengers to the state of West Bengal from the State of Tripura, left Rangapani railway station. Four carriages of the popular and often crowded passenger train were derailed when they were struck from behind by the commercial train. Footage from the accident site showed one of the passenger cars being lifted off the tracks and balancing on a car from the freight train.

The The number of deaths was likely to rise. Local media, citing police officials, reported at least 15 deaths. The driver and assistant driver of the goods train and a guard of the passenger train were among those killed.

Jaya Varma Sinha, chairman of the railway board Indian iron, declared that the relief operations had been completed. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India's railway minister, was on his way to the site.

The relatively low number of casualties could be attributed to the fact that the rear part of the Kanchanjunga Express, which suffered the greatest impact from the collision, included freight cars and the guard's car. The passengers were in compartments well ahead of the impact.

Although an investigation has been ordered to determine the cause of the collision, Ms Sinha said human error, such as failure to comply with a train signal, could have caused the accident.

Although an investigation has been ordered to look into the cause of the collision, Ms Sinha said human error , such as failure to respect a railway signal, could have caused the accident. p>

The accident once again brings to the forefront the issue of rail safety in a country where millions of poor residents depend on rail transport. India's railway network is one of the largest in the world and is crucial to the country's economy and the lives and livelihoods of its people.

The country has, in recent years, invested massively in rail. safety after a long history of fatal accidents. Although the overall number of rail accidents has declined over the past decade, mass casualty incidents have persisted. Last June, 290 people were killed when two passenger trains collided after one hit a stationary freight train at full speed and derailed in Odisha state.

After this incident, opposition leaders demanded the resignation of Mr. Vaishnaw, the Minister of Railways. He said he was trying to expand a safety system, called Kavach, intended to prevent accidents when two trains run on the same track. Ms. Sinha said the technology was yet to be deployed on the Kanchanjunga Express route.