Here’s Five Incidents Exposing Railway’s Safety Record

Bhubaneswar: Despite crores of rupees being earmarked for safety-related activities, train mishaps of various magnitude continue to happen with alarming regularity across the country, including in Odisha.

The fire in a coach of the Bhubaneswar-bound Rajdhani Express in Balasore district on Saturday was one such instance.

Here’s a look at the five major rail mishaps in Odisha and incidents involving Odisha-bound trains over the years.

1. On April 2 this year, two coaches of Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express from Bhubaneswar decoupled right on the Kathjodi bridge. Luckily no one was injured in the incident.

2. On February 14 in 2009, Chennai-bound Coromandal Express met with a major accident close to Jajpur Road railway station when 14 coaches derailed, leaving 15 passengers dead. It’s considered one of the worst train mishaps in Odisha till date.

3. On August 19, 2017, the Haridwar-bound Utkal Express from Puri derailed near Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, claiming 20 lives. Over 200 passengers, too, were injured in the accident.

This incident led to a change of guard in the top echelons of the Railway Board. Then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Railway Board chairman A.K. Mittal stepped down from their positions.

4. On January 22, 2017, the Bhubaneswar-bound Hirakhand Express from Jagdalpur derailed in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, killing 32 people.

5. Railways was witness to a bizarre incident on August 8, 2018, when the Puri-bound Ahmedabad Express rolled down without an engine for around 12km from Titlagarh station in Balangir district to Kesinga station in Kalahandi district.

No passengers were harmed but the incident exposed serious safety lapses. Seven railway staff were subsequently suspended.