Sabarmati Express Train Accident (21 April 2005)

Sabarmati Express Train Accident
17 people (including the driver of the Sabarmati Express and his assistant) were killed and over 127 injured (10 in critical condition) when the Ahmedabad bound passenger train from Varanasi, Train No. 9168 SABARMATI EXPRESS, collided with a stationary goods train (on the same track!) near Samlaya village in Vadodara district of Gujarat state at around 0310 Hrs (IST) on Thursday, 21 April 2005.

The train had departed Varanasi on Tuesday, 19 April afternoon at 1345 Hrs and was only three hours away from its destination, Ahmedabad. [Samlaya is 43 kms from Godhra (last stop of the ill-fated train), 30 kms from Vadodara (next stop) and 130 kms from Ahmedabad.] {Scheduled arrival time at Ahmedabad: 21 Apr 0620 Hrs.}

In all, seven coaches were damaged due to the mishap including three bogeys of the goods train. The damaged coaches of Sabarmati Express were mangled and the engine and two passenger coaches had jumped track and were on top of the goods train. The early morning hour and the darkness hampered the relief work in the beginning, but the railway police and the fire brigade soon took over.

Rescuers used gas cutters and drilling tools and to acces to badly damaged coaches to rescue the survivors and retrieve the dead. Senior Railway officials inspecting the accident site said the number of casualties were less because the engine had taken the maximum brunt of the collision and was tossed on top of the goods train bogey. They cut open the mangled remains of the bogies to look for survivors and bodies inside. Eight ambulances were despatched to the accident site and the injured were rushed to SSG Hospital, Vadodara.

A disaster management team was rushed from Gandhinagar. The Gujarat administration immediately swung into action, with four ministers being sent to the accident site to co-ordinate relief operations.

The Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced an ex-gratia of Rs One Lakh to the next of kin of those killed and an assistance of Rs 15,000 to the injured.
Apart from the ex-gratia amount, Railways would also provide employment to a member of the family of each of the deceased, Lalu Prasad told reporters at Vadodara airport.

The Railway Minister visited the accident site and later went to see the injured in Vadodara hospital where he faced angry demonstrations by suspected Bajrang Dal activists who stoned his car. Bajrang Dal is an affiliate of the state ruling political party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Lalu Prasad Yadav accused Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of orchestrating the attack to "kill" him. The minister was targeted as the accident was reportedly caused by error of the railway staff.

This unfortunately has given a political twist to the tragedy. Lalu Prasad Yadav's political party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), stalled the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament) proceedings demanding dismissal of the Gujarat government and implementation of the President's Rule in Gujarat. The Parliament was adjourned till Monday, 25th April.

Mechanical & human failure may have caused accident
The Sabarmati Express would not have met with the fatal accident had the signal maintainer or the pointsman at 'B' cabin informed the station superintendent at Samlaya that the automatic signalling system had failed. Had the superintendent known, he could have informed the Ahmedabad-bound passenger train to slow down and the tragedy could have been averted.

Along with the 'human error', railway officials point to a mechanical failure of a bell crank lever � popularly known as the point � on the track. A point enables a train to shift tracks.
Railway officials believe that the pointsman tried to normalise the point manually.
In circumstances where the automatic signalling system fails, the driver is asked to slow the train to a minimum speed and the signal maintainer clears the train from that malfunctioning zone by walking in front of the engine with a green flag, a procedure which was not followed, say railway officials.

However, following the signal failure, the point did not revert to its original position and took the Sabarmati Express into the loop line and SABARMATI EXPRESS RAMMED INTO THE STATIONARY GOODS TRAIN.

One of the survivors of this terrible tragedy was the guard of the goods train, Pyarelal Mina, who escaped with few injuries.
According to Mina, the goods train arrived in Samlaya at 0230 Hrs in the morning after which it stayed stationary on the loop track.
The Sabarmati was expected on the main track but it came on the loop track, the result of which was the fatal accident.
Mina recalls that the tail lights of the goods train was on so it would have been spotted by the crew on the oncoming train.

Train Accident Helpline Numbers
Ahmedabad: 079-22112503
Vadodara: 0265-2225735
Delhi: 011-23344128, 011-24359748
Lucknow: 0522-2636223
Varanasi: 0542-2504039
Rest of India: 1072 (toll free number)

About 300 accidents occur every year on Indian railways, which operate nearly 12,000 trains and carry more than 13 million passengers every day. Experts say the rail system, saddled with huge losses because of rock-bottom fares and a massive workforce, has little money to invest in improving safety and infrastructure.

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