The Warangal train crash was an accident which occurred on 2 July 2003 in the city of

Warangal Warangal () is a city in the Indian state of Telangana and the district headquarters of Warangal district. It is the second largest city in Telangana with a population of 704,570 per 2011 Census of India, and spreading over an . Warangal ser ...

Andhrapradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a States and union territories of India, state in the south-eastern Coastal India, coastal region of India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state by area covering ...

, in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The ''

Golconda Express The 17201 / 17202 Golconda Express is an Prestigious intercity express train running between Secunderabad and Guntur. It is provided with stoppage at Pedakakani railway station with effect from 1 May 2011. Etymology This train is named after ...

'' passenger service from

Guntur Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. It is situated to the west of the Ba ...

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

was scheduled to stop at Warangal station in mid-morning, but the driver failed to halt the train. He has subsequently claimed that the brakes stopped working long before the service arrived at Warangal, and that his train was supposed to have been put onto a loop line around the station until the problem was fixed. This was done but due to the speed it jumped over the loop line and onto the road below the bridge situated just after the station as the driver lost control causing the engine and two carriages to break through a concrete barrier and fall into the crowded street below, crushing several cars, market stalls and rickshaws beneath it. The eventual death toll was 22 killed with more than 110 injured, some very seriously. 13 of the dead had been train passengers, the others people who had been in the streets below. Rescue work was severely hampered by the congested nature of the streets as well as heavy rainfall. Local people were able to pull many of the lightly wounded to safety before the emergency services finally arrived. The families of the dead were paid 100,000 rupees, more than is usual in Indian railway accidents. The problem was believed to be the result of faulty brakes and poor communication between the train and the officials at Warangal station, neither of whom understood the full situation. The heavy rains compounded the problem, by reducing the friction of the rails and making it easier for the driver to lose control.

External links

BBC News Report
{{coord, 17.9736, N, 79.6007, E, source:wikidata, display=title 2003 disasters in India Railway accidents and incidents in Telangana Railway accidents in 2003 Warangal 2003 in India History of Andhra Pradesh (1947–2014) Railway accidents and incidents in Andhra Pradesh Bridge disasters in India Bridge disasters caused by maintenance error Bridge disasters caused by collision Derailments in India July 2003 events in India Transport in Warangal