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Fault in tracks was the possible cause of derailment of all the coaches of the Delhi-Kamakhya North East Express in Bihar, sources said on Thursday citing a preliminary investigation report.
At least four people were killed and several injured in the accident in Bihar's Buxar district Wednesday night.
"It seems that derailment occurred due to fault in tracks," the report, signed by six railway officials, stated.
Meanwhile, the railways on Thursday ordered a high-level inquiry into the derailment of the Delhi-Kamakhya North East Express in Bihar's Buxar district, officials said.
"A high-level inquiry has been ordered to investigate the reason behind the incident," East Central Railway's chief public relations officer Birendra Kumar said in a statement.
Highlighting the condition of passenger coaches, the preliminary probe report stated that all 22 coaches and the engine derailed -- two of them were fully capsized and two others turned turtle.
The probe report has estimated the cost of damage due to the accident at more than Rs 52 crore.
The loco pilot, Vipin Kumar Sinha, suffered minor injuries and his assistant sustained serious injuries in the accident.
The report also contained a statement from Sinha who said that the train passed Raghunathpur station, near which the accident occurred, at a speed of 128 km per hour, but soon after it crossed the station section, it suffered a severe jolt at the rear end with excessive vibration.
As a result of the excessive vibration and the severe jolt, the brake pipe pressure dropped suddenly and the train derailed at 9:52 pm, the preliminary report quoted the loco pilot as saying.
According to Sinha's statement, he took charge of the train from Deen Dayal Upadhyay station at 8:27 pm when everything was fine. He said that the train reached Buxar at 9:29 pm when the assistant loco pilot again did an inspection of the engine and found everything fine.
The report also quoted a gateman and a pointsman at the Raghunathpur station as saying that they saw sparks coming from near the wheels of the train.
"As per statement from the gateman of LC (level crossing) Gate no 59B, train no 12506 passed the gate and just after passing 8-10 coaches, he observed sparking and heard heavy noise,” the report stated.
The report stated a breath analyser test of the loco pilot and his assistant was negative.
At least four people died and several were injured when the train derailed near Raghunathpur in Bihar's Buxar district on Wednesday night.
An eight-year-old girl, identified as Akriti Bhandari, and her mother Usha Bhandari (37) who were travelling to Assam were among the four passengers who died in the derailment, the chief public relations officer of the East Central Railway said.
"The girl's father, who was also travelling with them, survived the accident. Narendra Kumar from Rajasthan and Abu Zayed (27) from Purnia were the other two who lost their lives. Zayed's friend, who was travelling with him, survived the accident,” the CPRO added.
He also informed that many people, who received minor injuries and were discharged within hours of the accident, were accommodated in a special train which left for the destination stations.
"Based on the medical advice of doctors, we are providing ambulance facilities to passengers to be dropped at home even if they are from distant places in Bihar and West Bengal,” the CPRO said.
Ex-gratia of Rs 10L to be given to kin of victims; priority is to clear tracks, says official
An ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh will be given to the next of kin of each deceased, and Rs 50,000 will be given to the injured, Birendra Kumar said.
ECR general manager Tarun Prakash, who is in Raghunathpur to supervise the restoration works, told PTI-Video that the priority is to clear the tracks.
"The number of casualties is four. The number of injured passengers is 40. The cause of derailment will be known only after a proper investigation. At present our priority is to clear the tracks. Until normal traffic is restored, trains running on the route will be diverted," he said.
However, a Railway Police Force officer had on Wednesday night said that at least 70 people were injured in the accident, and taken to local hospitals.
On the other side, the statement issued by the ECR said that while five passengers were critically injured, 25 received minor injuries.
Prakash said that the cause of the accident will be known only after the investigation is complete.
Meanwhile, all passengers of the train bound for Kamakhya in Guwahati in Assam, who were in a position to undertake the onward journey, boarded a relief train in the early hours of Thursday, officials said.
Cranes and equipment used in cutting through metal are being used for clearing the tracks, where lay a number of derailed coaches, some of which overturned, they said.
The injured people were undergoing treatment at hospitals mostly in Buxar town and Ara, where the neighbouring Bhojpur district is headquartered, officials said.
Ten injured passengers were taken to AIIMS-Patna, they added.
"Ten patients have been admitted to the Trauma Center of AIIMS-Patna. Six of them had minor injuries," its executive director doctor Gopal Krushna Pal told PTI, adding that the other four persons have fractures in various parts of their bodies.
"No one required ventilator support. No one is in a life-threatening condition. The treatment of the four people who had fractures is going on very well," he added.
Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who is the MP from Buxar, spoke to the director of AIIMS-Patna.
Expressing condolences for the loss of lives, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw posted on X, "Will find the root cause of derailment."
He said evacuation and rescue operations were completed and all coaches have been checked.
The 12506 North East Express departed the Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi at 7.40 am on Wednesday for its nearly 33-hour journey to Kamakhya.
Electric wires, poles and tracks have been damaged due to the accident, officials said, adding that 21 trains operating on the route have been diverted as a result.