Kaifiyat Express derailed Archives

Prabhu offers to quit after train derails, PM asks him to wait

by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics

New Delhi : Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered to resign “taking full responsibility” for train accidents and said Modi had asked him to “wait”.

Hours after a second train derailed in four days, Prabhu called on the Prime Minister “taking full responsibility” for the state of affairs. “PM has asked me to wait,” he tweeted.

On Saturday, the Kalinga Utkal Express derailed in Muzaffarnagar district leaving 22 people dead. Even as the railways cracked down on errant officials and staff, the Kaifiyat Express derailed in Auraiya district on Wednesday injuring 74 people. Both accidents took place in Uttar Pradesh.

Though Prabhu did not specifically mention that he had offered to resign, there has been intense speculation that he may have offered to resign considering the language of his tweets.

Railway Board Chairman A.K. Mittal has also offered to resign in the wake of the accidents. But there was no confirmation if Mittal has quit.

“I am extremely pained by the unfortunate accidents, injuries to passengers and loss of precious lives. It has caused me deep anguish,” the Railway Minister said.

“New India envisioned by PM deserves a Railways which is efficient and modern. I promise that is the path, on which Railways is progressing now.”

Prabhu said that he had tried to overcome “decades of neglect through systemic reforms in all areas leading to unprecedented investment and milestones”.

He said in less than three years as Minister, “I have devoted my blood and sweat for the betterment of the Railways”.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, 64-year-old Prabhu — formerly in the Shiv Sena — joined the BJP in May 2014 before he was inducted into the cabinet as the Railway Minister.

After the Saturday accident involving the Kalinga Utkal Express, the Congress said that since the Modi government took power in 2014, 259 passengers had died and 899 had been injured in 27 rail accidents.

An initial probe into the Kalinga Utkal Express tragedy found that the accident was caused due to negligence by railway staff.

—IANS

74 injured, four critical, as train derails in UP

by admin | May 25, 2021 | News

Lucknow/New Delhi : At least 74 persons, four in critical condition, were injured when 10 coaches of the Kaifiyat Express derailed in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday morning, police said.

The incident took place after the train bound for New Delhi from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh hit a dumper, which had overturned on the railway tracks between Achalda and Pata stations around 2.40 a.m, a railway official said.

According to the police, the four persons with serious head injuries were rushed to Etawah district hospital.

Two others have been shifted to Saifai medical college, he said.

Principal secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said the rescue work concluded around 7 a.m.

The dumper carried sand for the railway work of dedicated freight corridor running parallel to the track, Inspector General of Police (Kanpur Zone) Alok Singh told IANS.

However, railway officials in Delhi said the dumper did not belong to the corridor project.

Senior officials from Etawah, Auraiya and Kannauj rushed to the spot and oversaw the rescue operation, Kumar told IANS.

Kanpur Divisional Commissioner P.K. Mohanty said other injured were shifted to medical facilities in Etawah.

The official said work was underway to repair the tracks and clear the important Delhi-Howrah route from which hundreds of trains pass every day.

At least seven trains were cancelled and 40 diverted due to the incident.

This is the second train accident in Uttar Pradesh within a week after 14 coaches of the Kalinga Utkal Express derailed in Muzaffarnagar on Saturday, leaving 22 dead and over 150 injured.

—IANS