Monday morning ie 17th June 2024, there was a terrible train accident in West Bengal’s Darjeeling area. It broke the peace and left a path of destruction in its wake. A goods train hit the Kanchanjunga Express from behind as it was going from Agartala to Sealdah. The accident happened near Rangapani station, which is close to New Jalpaiguri. The crash was so bad that it flipped over three coaches of the passenger train, which made everyone on board fear and cause chaos.
The Railway Board Chairperson, Jaya Verma Sinha, said that nine people died in the crash. Three of them were railway workers: the driver of the goods train and the guard of the express train. About 50 others were hurt, some seriously, and were rushed to the North Bengal Medical College to get immediate medical care. The chairperson promised that the injured are getting the best care possible while the train authorities work quickly to fix the problems caused by this terrible accident.
Although the fact that the parcel and guard’s coaches were at the back of the Kanchanjunga Express may have lessened the effect to some degree, the general compartment still took a lot of damage from the crash. An immediate rescue effort was started, with the NDRF, the Army, the state government, and locals working together to help get people trapped in the wreckage out.
According to preliminary investigations by top railway officials, the main cause of the accident was human error. The loco pilot of the goods train is said to have ignored a warning, which caused the terrible crash. There were also reports of a broken automatic lighting system between Ranipatra and Chattar Hat Junction since 5:50 AM, which is about three hours before the accident. This made people worry about possible safety violations.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, was shocked and upset by what happened. She took to social media to reassure the public that doctors, disaster response teams, and other needed resources had been sent to the scene of the accident right away. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his respects to the families of the deceased and said that Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw would personally go to the scene to see what was going on.
As a show of support and help, the Railway Ministry has stated that the families of the deceased will receive ₹10 lakh, those who were injured will receive ₹2.5 lakh, and those who were only slightly hurt will receive ₹50,000. But no amount of money can really make up for the lives lost and the pain those affected have been through.
While people are still getting better and getting medical care, the authorities have promised to do a full probe into what happened in this terrible accident. Without a question, the results will shed light on the factors that led to the accident and help put in place steps to stop similar ones from happening again, protecting rail passengers across the country.
