Odisha train accident: When Coromandel Express derailed 14 years ago on another dark Friday

India saw one of its worst rail disasters on Friday (2 June) evening when two passenger trains and a goods train crashed near the Balasore district in Odisha. According to Associated Press (AP), at least 280 people were killed and more than 800 injured due to the collision of the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, Howrah Superfast Express, running from Bangalore to Howrah, and a freight train.

The mishap has evoked memories of another derailment involving the Coromandel Express which took place in 2009, coincidentally, on a Friday in Odisha.

What do we know about the triple train crash? What had happened in 2009? Let’s take a closer look.

Odisha triple train accident

The accident took place when 10 to 12 coaches of 12841 Coromandel Express, which runs between West Bengal’s Shalimar and Tamil Nadu’s Chennai, derailed and fell on the opposite track around 7 pm in Balasore.

According to Hindustan Times (HT) report, the Coromandel Express went on the wrong track just minutes before the mishap. The report said citing a senior railways official that the Chennai-bound train took the loop line instead of the main line just ahead of Bahanagar Bazar station.

The HT report further found that the Coromandel Express, which was running at about 127 km per hour, collided with a freight train standing on the loop line and then derailed on the main line.

After a while, Howrah Superfast Express, running from Bangalore’s Yeswanthpur to Howrah in West Bengal, slammed into those derailed cars, leading to three to four of its coaches going off tracks, Railways spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said, as per CNN.

Santosh Jain, one of the passengers on the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, told Indian Express: “It was around 8.30 pm. The train suddenly stopped and there was a big noise. The coaches behind us, AC and General, hit the coaches of another train on the opposite track (the Coromandel Express). The two compartments were detached and got left behind while we moved further away from the accident spot”.

“But as people started to get off the train, we noticed that some of the coaches behind were missing and there were marks of major damage. We started walking on the track using a mobile phone torch as it was pitch dark. As we neared the accident spot, I saw bodies full of blood lying on the track. I can never forget that image,” he added.

One of the survivors recalled that he woke up suddenly when the train derailed, causing 15 people to fall on him.

“I was at the bottom of the pile. My hand is injured, it’s hurting a lot, and also the back of my neck,” he told NDTV. “When I came out of the train, I saw someone had lost their hand, someone had lost their limb, someone’s face was disfigured.”

Meanwhile, sources told Indian Express that prima facie a signalling error could be the cause of the train mishap.

2009 Coromandel Express derailment

On 13 February 2009, 13-14 coaches of the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express derailed around 7.50 pm while changing tracks near Odisha’s Jajpur district.

The train had left Howrah station on Friday afternoon and was to arrive in Chennai the next day.

“The engine of the train went onto one track and capsized, while the bogies which remained on another derailed and scattered in all directions,” Manmohan Praharaj, the then Director General of Police, had told news agency PTI.

“The wheels and springs of the bogies lay in all directions 200 to 300 metre away from the spot,” said the PTI report.

Officials at Jajpur told Times of India (TOI) at the time that the coaches closest to the engine were the worst-hit, including a luggage-cum-sleeper coach, two unreserved coaches and 11 second-class sleeper bogies.

Chiranjeev Lakshman, a medical student at Chennai’s Dr MGR University at the time, told English daily TOI: Seven compartments completely overturned. Around 8 pm, when I was sitting on my berth and waiting for dinner, I heard a loud bang. The train began moving faster and suddenly stopped. I found myself buried under the luggage that had fallen off the upper berths.”

Passengers recalled feeling sharp jolts moments before the tragedy, suggesting that the driver applied the brakes, reported PTI.

“Suddenly there was a lurch and a screeching sound as if brakes had been applied. The train shook violently from side to side and we were thrown off our berths,” Rajendra Singh, a passenger in S-5 coach, was quoted as saying by the English daily.

He said there was a “tumbling sensation” and “after what seemed a long time”, the “rolling and screeching stopped”.

Notably, the accident happened the same day the then Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had underscored the safety record of railways during his budget speech in Parliament.

With inputs from agencies

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