Railway accidents

Citation

(2002), "Railway accidents", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 11 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2002.07311dac.003

Railway accidents

Railway accidents

11 August 2001, Norte Province, Luanda, Angola

Sixteen people were killed and 56 injured when a train struck a landmine near the Angolan capital of Luanda, the Portuguese news agency Lusa has reported. The accident occurred yesterday afternoon between Zenza and Dondo towns in Cuanza Norte Province, some 150 kilometres east of Luanda, Lusa said, quoting officials. Seriously injured passengers have been taken to hospital in the capital.

16 August 2001, Jamui, India

A train plowed into a stationary train today in a station at Jamui town in Bihar state, killing five people and injuring at least 50, said Digvijay Singh, India's junior railways minister.

17 August 2001 – The death toll from a collision between an Indian goods train and a stationary passenger train rose to ten today after six people died from their injuries overnight, railway officials said. The accident happened yesterday when five of the goods train's 25 wagons detached and rammed into the Muzaffarpur-Sealdah passenger train at Jumui, eastern Bihar state, B.K. Sharma, spokesman for Eastern Railways, told Reuters. "The impact of the collision was so strong that several bogies of the goods train climbed over the passenger train", Sharma said. "There are ten dead and 13 injured."

19 August 2001, Kurunegala Area, Sri Lanka

At least 13 people have been killed and 40 injured after a train derailed in Sri Lanka. The train, packed with approximately 2,000 passengers, was on its way to Colombo. It came off the tracks near Kurunegala, 60 miles from the capital. A railway official said the last three cars of the train derailed, sending hundreds of passengers crashing from their seats. A police spokesman said: "Initial investigations have attributed the cause of the accident to the high speed the train was travelling at, and that it was packed over capacity." Some of the victims had to be dragged out from under the toppled cars.

24 August 2001, Gurdaspur area, India

Ten people were killed yesterday when a train collided with the three-wheeler in which they were travelling, police said. The mishap took place at an unmanned railway crossing near Gurdaspur in Punjab. The Amritsar-Pathankot passenger train collided with the three-wheeler at 1105 hrs, the police said. Nine persons died on the spot and one succumbed to injuries in hospital, they said. The condition of another injured – a woman – was said to be serious.

2 September 2001, Cirebon Station, Java Island, Indonesia

Two trains crashed into each other on Indonesia's Java Island today, killing 13 people and injuring at least 48, a railway official said. The collision between a passenger train and a locomotive occurred around 0400 hrs in Cirebon station, 125 miles east of Jakarta, said Zainal Abidin, a spokesman for the state-owned railway company, PT Kereta Api. Twenty of the injured are in serious condition in local hospitals, he said. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Officials have in the past blamed signal failure for similar collisions. The passenger train was travelling from Jakarta to the popular tourist destination of Yogyakarta, in Central Java province, Abidin said. There were no reports of foreigners being killed or injured in the accident, he said.

2 September 2001 – A rail crash on the Indonesian island of Java has left at least 40 people dead and many others injured. Two passenger trains collided head-on yesterday at a station in the town of Cirebon on the north coast of the island, about 200 kilometres east of Jakarta. Hours after the crash, officials said more bodies still had to be recovered from the wreckage. An investigation has begun, but the country's Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar is reported to have said that human error was involved. A private radio station in the area quoted a railway official as saying that one of the trains had not followed proper procedures when entering the station, the French news agency AFP reported. "It looks like the results of human error," said Gatot Wibowo, a spokesman for state railways company PT Kereta Api Indonesia. One of the trains "ignored signals and entered the station without reducing speed", he added. The passenger train was en route to the popular tourist resort of Yogyakarta, Central Java. The disaster has cut rail links in northern Java, as Cirebon is one of the main stations on the line linking West Java and Central Java. It is located 200 km east of the capital Jakarta.

3 September 2001 – Human error is being blamed for a head-on train collision in Indonesia's west Java province that left at least 42 people killed and another 35 in hospital. The two trains collided at the main station of the coastal city of Cirebon at 0345, local time, said Gatot Wibowo, a spokesman for state railways company PT Kereta Api Indonesia.

19 October 2001 – Thousands of people at several railway stations had to delay their trips yesterday after the Tawang Mas train serving Semarang-Senen (Jakarta) line derailed in Cirebon on Wednesday (October 17). No fatalities were reported. Railway transportation from West to Central and East Java via Cirebon was totally paralysed for at least four hours after the economy-class Tawang Mas train No.166 derailed at about 1500 hrs. Some of the 800 passengers continued their journey to Semarang by bus or other modes of transportation on Wednesday afternoon. The railway company, PT KAI, provided them with money for their fares. Four executive trains – the Argo Lawu, the Taksaka, the Argo Bromo and the Cirebon Ekspres – had to cancel their scheduled trips to and from Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Purwokerto and Surabaya. Activity along the railway line returned yesterday morning and trains could use the tracks, although at a reduced speed. However, the effect of Wednesday's disruption was still evident yesterday when thousands of passengers were stranded at Gambir station in Jakarta. "The Fajar and the Taksaka trains bound for Yogyakarta were canceled," Ardiansyah, who wanted to travel to Yogyakarta, said. "PT KAI railway company returned all the passengers' money," he said.

25 October 2001, Banten Province, West Java, Indonesia

At least 12 people were killed and six injured when a passenger train collided with a coal train in Indonesia's Banten province. The passenger train overshot a stop at Rangkasbitung station in West Java and collided with the freight train travelling in the opposite direction, said Mamat Rachmat, a village chief. "The freight train should have entered the Rangkasbitung station first and the passenger train should not have gone beyond the station," Rachmat told AFP. The passenger train was bound from Jakarta to Rangkasbitung. Rachmat said the driver of the coal train was killed in the accident. The railway company could not be reached for comment.

20 November 2001, Dumari Halt, Bihar, India

At least 13 people were killed and 16 injured when a pilot engine rammed into the Mokama-Howrah passenger train at Dumari halt in Patna-Keul section of the Danapur division of Eastern Railway this evening, official sources at Lahksarai, Bihar, said. Unofficial reports put the death toll at 25. The train was stranded at Dumari halt due to a technical problem in the engine. As train services were disrupted on the Howrah-Delhi main line since 1600 hrs, a pilot engine was summoned from the Barhahiya station to clear the main line. The sources said instructions were passed on to the driver of the pilot engine that the Mokama-Howrah passenger train was halted at the Manakattha station, but he maintained a high speed. The engine hit the rear of the stationery passenger train, throwing two crowded compartments off the track. The Railways rushed medical teams of expert doctors to the accident site to provide medical aid to the injured passengers. Sources at the Railway Headquarters said medical teams from Jhajha, Danapur, Keul and Mokama had been rushed to the spot. Special medical vans had also been sent. The injured passengers were being taken to local hospitals.

26 November 2001, Moradabad Area, Uttar Pradesh, India

At least 12 people were killed and seven injured when an express train rammed into a minibus in which they were travelling near Moradabad in the northern Indian State of Uttar Pradesh, said Press Trust of India (PTI). The accident occurred when the the Bareilly-Delhi Express approached the unmanned gate between Kundarki and Macbharyi stations in Moradabad Division on Sunday (November 25), a Northern Railway spokesman said today. Nine people died on the spot while three succumbed to injuries, he said. Teams of relief officials and doctors rushed immediately to the accident site. A special train with medical equipment has left for the site from Moradabad.

23 December 2001, Artux, China

At least 28 people were killed and 11 injured when a train slammed into an overcrowded bus at a railway crossing in a remote area of Xinjiang at the weekend, government officials said yesterday. The packed bus "disintegrated completely" in the crash at about noon on Sunday (December 23) in the city of Artux, about 1,000 km west of the regional capital Urumqi and near the Kyrgyzstan border, an official and state media said. There were no reports of casualties from the passenger train, which resumed its journey after two hours, a newspaper in Sichuan province said yesterday. The privately owned bus was trying to beat the train through the crossing when it stalled, the county official said. The train was bound from Urumqi to Kashgar.

25 December 2001, Ketanggungan, Indonesia

At least 29 people were killed and dozens injured when two trains packed with holiday-makers collided on the northern coast of Indonesia's Central Java today, a hospital official said. "Up until now, we have 27 registered dead, but the figure is certain to increase as victims are still being brought in," Nur Aena, a nurse from the general hospital in Brebes town said. Local sub-district chief Sutarsono told the Elshinta private radio station that parts of at least two bodies could be seen trapped in the train's wreckage and rescue efforts were still ongoing. The collision occurred some 20 km south of Brebes around 0500 hrs (2200, UTC, yesterday), police there said. Sergeant Sugeng, of the Brebes district police said a train from Yogyakarta bound for Jakarta collided with another heading in the opposite direction while it was still at the Ketanggungan station, south of Brebes. An official at the Brebes station said the Gaya Baru train, which had left the East Java city of Surabaya had nine passenger wagons, one restaurant car and one power wagon which also carried passengers. The Mpu Jaya train which left Jakarta for Yogyakarta, had 11 passenger wagons and a restaurant car.

26 December 2001 – Rescuers have pulled 30 bodies from the debris left by a collision of two overcrowded trains in Indonesia, but media reports today said that as many as 54 people may have died. The driver of one of the trains apparently fell asleep and ran a red light yesterday, ploughing into a train standing in the station in Brebes, in central Java, about 160 miles east of Jakarta, officials said. At least 47 injured people were being treated in local hospitals. The Jakarta Post and other news media put the death toll at 54, even though rescuers reported finding only 30 bodies so far. Rescuers were still trying to cut into the steel carriages to find more people inside. As many as 1,200 passengers were on each train. Police said the driver, who was being treated for injuries sustained in the accident, was being investigated for alleged negligence. No charges had been filed, they said.