Death Toll Goes Up To 8 In Siliguri Train Accident; Goods Train Driver Had Overshot Signal

New Delhi: The death toll in the accident after a goods train rammed into Kolkata-bound Kanchanjunga Express in West Bengal’s Siliguri on Monday has gone up to eight with around 30 others injured. As many as two rear compartments of the express train derailed after the collision.

Rescue operations are underway at the spot, about seven km from North Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri station, and the injured persons were being shifted to nearby hospitals, according to reports.

The driver and assistant driver of the goods train and guard of the Kanchenjunga Express train have died in the incident said Varma Sinha, Chairman and CEO, Railway Board. As per the latest update, five bodies and 29 injured people have reached North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.

The goods train that hit a Kolkata-bound express train this morning in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district had overshot the signal, officials said.

The 13174 Kanchanjunga Express was bound for Sealdah from Agartala when the accident occurred around 9 am, a railway official was quoted as saying by News18.

The two rear compartments were derailed under the impact of the collision from behind by the locomotive of the goods train near Rangapani station, about seven km from North Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri station, according to the divisional railway manager (DRM) of North Frontier Railway’s Katihar division.

Kanchanjunga Express was reportedly en route to the Sealdah station in Kolkata when a goods train hit it from behind in Siliguri’s Rangapani region. The accident happened soon after the express train left the New Jalpaiguri Station.

The Indian Railways has issued two helpline numbers–03323508794, 03323833326– to provide speedy assistance to kin of passengers travelling in Kanchanjunga Express. Sealdah Eastern Railway has also set up a control desk at Rangapani station after the Kanchenjunga Express train rammed by a goods train at Ruidhasa in Darjeeling district.

President Droupadi Murmu condoled the loss of lives in a train accident in West Bengal and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured. “The news of the loss of lives due to a train accident in Darjeeling, West Bengal is deeply distressing. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured and success of relief and rescue operations,” Murmu said in a post on X.

Condoling deaths in the accident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The railway accident in West Bengal is saddening. Condolences to those who lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. Spoke to officials and took stock of the situation. Rescue operations are underway to assist the affected. The Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is on the way to the site of the mishap as well.”

PM Modi also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the next of kin of each deceased. “The injured would be given Rs 50,000,” the Prime Minister’s office said.