Toll rises to 10 in Kanchanjunga Express tragedy, train services fully restored at accident site

PTI , June 18, 2024  : Train services in both the up and down lines at Rangapani near West Bengal's New Jalpaiguri station were restored on Tuesday following repair work on a war footing, a senior official said.

Train operations on the route were hampered following an accident there on Monday morning when a goods train rammed Agartala-Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express from behind.

Train services in the down line were restored on Monday night, and in the up line, diesel locomotive-run train services were restarted on Tuesday morning, divisional railway manager of Katihar S Kumar said.

He said that electric locomotives in the up line would recommence within an hour.

While visiting the accident site on Monday evening, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that since it is the main line connecting Northeast with the rest of the country, the focus was to restore services on the route at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the toll in the train accident rose to 10, an official said on Tuesday.

While eight bodies were brought to the state-run North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) after the accident on Monday morning, two persons died during treatment, he said.

Among the deceased was a six-year-old girl who was admitted to the hospital in a "critical condition", doctor Sandip Sengupta, NBMCH's dean of student affairs, told PTI-Video.

"The girl had fractures in her legs and a liver-spleen injury. She died while undergoing treatment," he said.

Thirty-seven people were admitted to the hospital on Monday following the accident, he said, adding that two of them went home after primary treatment.

"Three persons are in the trauma care unit. They underwent surgery. Few patients have fractures. Most of them have superficial injuries. Our challenge is to send them home in good health. Our team is working tirelessly," Sengupta said.

A goods train rammed into the stationary Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express near Rangapani, 30 km from the New Jalpaiguri station in Siliguri, on Monday morning.