An Indian passenger train derailed and several of its carriages overturned on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring 20 others.
India’s extensive rail network is the main form of travel in the vast country, but it is poorly funded and fatal accidents occur frequently.
The Howrah-Mumbai Express derailed near Jamshedpur in the eastern state of Jharkhand before dawn.
“At least two people were killed and 20 injured,” Indian Railways spokesman Om Prakas Saran told AFP.
The accident happened around the same time that an oncoming freight train derailed, possibly colliding with the passing passenger train.
“There was another derailment of a freight train nearby, but it was not clear if the two accidents happened at the same time,” Charan said.
Eighteen coaches were thrown off the tracks, Charan added, while rescue operations are underway to clear the spot.
India has embarked on a $30 billion modernization of its rail infrastructure in a bid to boost the economy and connectivity.
But analysts say that while the number of accidents has come down over time, India’s antiquated rail system still has a long way to go.
An average of 20,000 people died each year between 2017 and 2021 in rail accidents, according to official records.
Faulty lines, poor maintenance and old signaling kit combined with human error were the main cause of the derailment, according to a report by India’s apex audit authority.
Last year, nearly 300 people were killed when a passenger train and a stationary freight train collided, with the derailed compartments then hitting another fast-moving passenger service.
India’s worst rail accident occurred in 1981, when a cyclone blew a train off its tracks and into a river in Bihar state, killing 800 and injuring more than 100.
Indian Railways, the world’s fourth largest railway network, runs about 14,000 trains daily with 8,000 locomotives on a vast track system of about 64,000 kilometers (40,000 mi).
Trains carry more than 21 million people every day.
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