A local passenger train met with an accident with a non-teaching goods train on Friday near Kavarapettai, Tamil Nadu in which beg some of the coaches were robbed of their wheels and several railway services were affected. Currently, eighteen trains have been cancelled while others are being rerouted as authorities struggle to adduce normalcy.
The Indian Railways has immediately ordered a high-level inquiry into the cause of the collision and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been involved to find out whether the crash happened due to signal-jamming or due to some other planned act. The passenger train was moving at a speed of 80 km/h and crashed with the goods train at the loop line.
Early reports speak of the coaches which include six of Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Superfast Express and three of them have tragically been engulfed by fire. However, there is no report of death by now, but the extent of the injuries of the passengers is still pending the release by the Ministry of Railways.
According to the Tamil Nadu police the accident occurred at the time that the passenger train inexplicably entered the loop line and collided with the goods train which was standing on this line. Passengers have been evacuated and rescue teams with ambulances sent to the scene to control the situation.
Travel by rail has been badly affected, and there is a continuing process of attempting to get services back to as near normal as possible. Officials are yet to ascertain the cause of the accident.
