Timeline: Indian train accidents

Overcrowding and outdated technology often leads to fatal accidents.

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India’s railroad network is one of the largest in the world and carries about 14 million passengers a day [AFP]

Dec 3, 2000: Forty-six people were killed and more than 130 injured when the Howrah-Amritsar Mail rammed into a derailed goods train between Sarai Banjara and Sadhugarh in Punjab

June 22, 2001: Forty people were killed when the Mangalore-Chennai Mail fell into Kadalundi river near Kozhikode in Kerala

January 5, 2002: Twenty one people were killed and 41 injured when the Secundarabad-Manmad Express train rammed into a stationary goods train at Ghatnandur station in Maharashtra

May 12, 2002: Twelve people were killed when the New Delhi-Patna Shramjeevi Express derailed in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. 

June 4, 2002: Thirty-four people were killed when the Kasgunj Express hit a bus at a rail crossing

September 9, 2002: One hundred people were killed and 150 hurt when the Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express plunged into Dhave river in Bihar’s Aurangabad district

May 15, 2003: Thirty eight people were killed and 13 injured when three coaches of the Amritsar-bound Frontier Mail train caught fire. 

June 22, 2003: Fifty-three people were killed and 25 injured when a Karwar-Mumbai Central Holiday Special train derailed after crossing Vaibhavwadi Station in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra

July 2, 2003: Eighteen people were killed when a train engine and two adjoining coaches fell off a bridge in Warangal

February 27, 2004: Thirty people people were killed when Guwahati-bound Kanchenjunga Express train hit a truck at an unmanned level-crossing in West Bengal’s Dinajpur district

December 15, 2004: Thirty-four people were killed and about 50 injured when the Ahmedabad-bound Jammu Tawi Express train collided head-on with a local train about 40km from Jalandhar in Punjab. 

August 18, 2006: Two carriages caught fire on Chennai-Hyderabad Express near the Secundrabad railway station

November 9, 2006: Around 40 people were killed and 15 injured in a West Bengal rail accident

December 1, 2006: Thirty five people were killed and 17 injured when a portion of a 150-year-old bridge being dismantled collapsed over a passing train in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district

November 14, 2009: Seven people were killed and more than 60 injured when the Delhi-bound Mandore Express train derailed.

October 21, 2009: Twenty-two people were killed and 26 injured when the Goa Express train rammed the Mewar Express at Banjana on the Mathura-Vrindavan section of the Northern Railway in Uttar Pradesh

January 2, 2010: Fifteen people were killed during dense fog conditions in Utter Pradesh after three accidents involving five trains

January 16, 2010: Three people were killed and around 12 injured when the Kalindi Express train collided with the Shram Shakti Express in thick fog in Uttar Pradesh

May 28, 2010: At least 148 people were killed when the Jyaneshwari Express derailed due to suspected Maoist rebel sabotage

July 19, 2010: At least 50 die when an express train heading for Kolkata plought into the back of another train standing in a station in Birbhum district, around 125 miles north of Kolkata.

July 10, 2011: At least 31 people die and more than 150 are injured in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh following the derailment of several coaches of the Delhi-bound passenger train, Kalka Mail. In a second incident, nearly 50 people are injured in a train derailment blamed on a track explosion in the northeastern state of Assam.

Source: Al Jazeera