Kolkata: The Railways has said death and damage would have been far less in the train accident in West Bengal early on Friday if a goods train had not rammed the derailed coaches of the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express.
Vivek Sahai, member traffic, railways board, said 20 people were confirmed dead as of now and 104 had been injured. The maximum damage he said was caused by the impact of the collision, with three coaches of the Gyaneshwari Express bearing the brunt. The dead and injured from one coach had been taken out he said, but it was proving more difficult to rescue people from the two other coaches, which were badly damaged.
Three grievously injured people had been airlifted, he said, and 45 others were already in hospital by early morning.
Sahai too said a red alert had been sounded from midnight of May 28 owing to the Maoist call for a series of "Black Days" and the Railways had taken precautions. A single light engine had been run on the track a few hours before the accident and about five trains had run on it thereafter at intervals of 15 to 20 minutes, he said. The speed of all trains running in the night through Maoist-infested areas was no more than 45 kmph, he added.
The Maoists attacked after the patrolling. The timing was crucial.
Sahai said the driver of the Gyaneshwari Express had reported that he heard a loud sound "which makes us believe that there may have been a blast ot tinkering or sabotage with the tracks."
The railway board member said it would take about 24 hours to restore services. "Once trapped persons are taken out, restoration work will be quickly done," he said. But what needs to be worked out is how trains would be scheduled given the Maoist threat in five state.
Sahai said the Railways would work out those details in the next one day.