“The Coromandal Express is back on the tracks,” said Indian Railways spokeswoman Aditya Kumar Chodhari.
Its routes Coromandel Expressone of three trains involved in India’s worst rail accident in decades, started again today, six days after the tragedy that killed 288 people, according to the latest tally.
“The Coromandel Express it’s back on the tracks,” said Aditya Kumar Chodhari, a spokeswoman for the Indian Railways.
The passenger train is expected to depart Shalimar station, near Kolkata, this afternoon for a 25-hour journey south bound for Madras.
Trains had already started running through the site of Friday’s crash on Sunday, but the Coromandal Express service had not been restored.
Late Tuesday night, Pradeep Jena, an official in Odisha state where the tragedy occurred, announced that the official death toll had risen to 288 from 275, after counting at hospitals and morgues.
Jena said at least 1,175 people were injured, many of whom are in critical condition or are still being treated.
A six-member team of the Indian Bureau of Investigation (CBI) visited the accident site yesterday.
The Coromandel Express, plying the Kolkata-Madras route, was given permission to enter the central railway line, but due to human error, it entered another which was already occupied by a commercial train going in the opposite direction, according to media reports.
The passenger train collided with the commercial train at a speed of 130 kilometers per hour. Three of its carriages fell onto the adjacent railway track, hitting the rear of another train, the Howrah Superfast Express, running the Bangalore-Calcutta route. This collision caused the most damage.
In total, more than 2,000 people were on board the two trains.
It is India’s deadliest rail disaster since 1995, when two express trains collided in Firozabad, near Agra, killing more than 300 people.
In the past India has experienced many rail tragedies, but in recent years the safety of the network has improved significantly, thanks to investment and technological development.
The country’s worst rail accident was on June 6, 1981, when seven carriages of a train crossing a bridge fell into the Bagmati River, killing 800-1,000 people.
Source :Skai
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