36 injured as passenger train derails in North India

At least 36 people have been injured, some of them seriously, after eight coaches of a fast passenger train derailed in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of Thursday, officials said.

The accident took place around 2:30 a.m. (local time) when the Jabalpur-Nizamuddin Mahakaushal Express was between Mahoba and Kulpahad railway stations in the state's Mahoba district, nearly 270 km from Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow.

"Some 36 people have sustained injuries in the accident. All of them have been admitted to nearby state-run and private hospitals, where the condition of 10 people are said to be serious. Fortunately, no lives have been lost," a senior Indian Railways official told the media.

Local TV channels showed footage of the derailed train and reported that rescue operations were on full swing, led by personnel of the specialised National Defense Response Force (NDRF).

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sent the state's Health Minister S.N. Singh to the accident site and asked him to supervise the rescue operations. "I am personally monitoring the relief and rescue operations," the minister told the media.

The accident has disrupted movement of trains in the region. However, railway officials said that efforts were on to operationalise the rail traffic at the earliest. "A probe was also ordered into the incident," a senior official said.

The Indian Railways has not had a good start this year.

In January, an express train derailed in Vizianagaram district of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, killing 41 passengers and injuring over 60 others. And in March, nine people were injured following a blast in one of the coaches of a passenger train in central state of Madhya Pradesh.

One of the world's largest train networks, the Indian Railways criss-crosses the country from north to south, carrying 23 million passengers each day. However, train accidents are fairly common in India, where much of the railway equipment is out of date.

In 2015, the Indian government pledged investments of 137 billion U.S. dollars over five years to modernise and expand the railways.

Source: Xinhua