Goods train hits stationary freight coaches in Bengal's Bankura, none hurt
Kolkata (PTI): A goods train collided with another stationary freight train at Onda in Bankura district of West Bengal on Sunday morning, a senior South Eastern Railway official said.
No one was injured in the accident, which affected train services in the Adra division of SER for over four hours, he said.
At least eight wagons derailed due to the collision, which happened around 4 am, the official said.
Train movement at Onda in the Midnapore-Adra section of Adra division was restored at 8.30 am, after urgent repair work was carried out, he said.
The derailed wagons were removed from the tracks on war footing, and the first passenger train to pass was the 18011 Howrah-Chakradharpur express at 8.35 am, he said.
The incident comes weeks after the train disaster at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha's Balasore district on June 2 in which 288 people were killed and hundreds injured.
Onda is around 250 km away from Bahanaga Bazar.
The SER official said the likely cause of Sunday's accident was that the driver of the moving goods train had overshot the home signal at Onda, which was red.
The train then went into the loop line, for which the point was likely to have been set on the tracks, and hit the stationary freight wagons, he said.
An enquiry will be held to pinpoint the cause of the incident.
At least 20 express and passenger trains were cancelled and some others were diverted via other routes due to the accident, he added.
VIDEO | "As of preliminary information, one of the goods trains was standing when it got hit by the other goods train. More details will be revealed after a detailed inquiry," says safety officer Dibakar Majhi at Onda Station near West Bengal's Bankura. pic.twitter.com/mgiJIwcE1U
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WR suspends TTE after he makes passenger write apology letter for asking him to speak in Marathi
Mumbai, Nov 5: The Western Railway has suspended a train ticket examiner (TTE) for allegedly making a passenger write an apology after the latter asked him to speak in Marathi, an official said on Tuesday.
The action came after a photograph of the apology letter surfaced on social media, and passengers staged a protest, he said.
Talking to PTI, Vineet Abhishek, chief public relations officer of Western Railway, said an inquiry is ordered into the incident that took place at Nallasopara station on November 3, and TTE Rakesh Mourya has been suspended.
"All passengers, regardless of their religion, language, or region, are equal to us. Providing excellent service to them is our goal. The matter will be investigated thoroughly, and necessary action will be taken," he said.
Around 70 to 80 passengers staged a protest at Nallasopara station after the purported apology letter surfaced on social media on Monday, officials said.
According to officials, the TTE asked the passenger, Amit Patil, and his wife to furnish their local train tickets. The couple asked him to speak to them in Marathi as they did not understand Hindi, and an argument ensued.
The TTE took the couple to the office of the Railway Protection Force, where Patil claimed that the official had threatened them and made him write an apology, they said.
The Western Railway, in its statement, affirmed its commitment to respecting all languages and passengers.
"Western Railway respects all languages spoken across the country and values the diversity of our passengers, standing firm on unity in diversity," it stated.
