The Karanjadi train crash was an accident resulting in derailment of a passenger train at Karanjadi, a village in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

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 ...

, on 17 June 2004. 20 people were killed and well over 100 injured in the crash, which was the result of heavy monsoon rains.

Overview

At 6.10am, the ''

Matsyagandha Express The 12619/20 Matsyagandha Superfast Express is a daily Superfast Express train running between Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai) and Mangaluru Central. The train was introduced on 1 May 1998 as Mangalore-Kurla Express. The Matsyagandha Expres ...

'' passenger train, transporting commuters between

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, was on a section of the

Konkan Railway The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The first passenger train ran on Konkan railway tracks on 20 March 1993, between Udupi and ...

line between Veer and Karanjadi, when the engine ran headlong into the debris of a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

caused by heavy monsoon rains, which had collapsed part of a hillside across the track, crushing steel nets put there to prevent such a fall. Due to the hilly terrain, the driver was unable to see the obstruction until much too late, and the engine with eleven carriages derailed and fell some way down the hillside and off a bridge. The same heavy rainfall that caused the crash dampened the wreckage, preventing a possible fire, which could have killed hundreds, as the injured survivors were forced to wait several hours until rescuers could arrive, again thanks to the difficult terrain. The engine had fallen, with the lead carriage off a bridge into a stream, and local people were vital in rescuing those who had fallen in, and saved many lives before emergency services arrived. The death toll for the crash was initially believed to be 14 dead with 115 injured, but removal of the wreckage uncovered six more bodies underneath. 30 of those injured were critically ill patients being transported to a hospital in

, although all are thought to have survived the crash. Relatives of the dead were paid 10,000 rupees in compensation, slightly less than is normal in such circumstances. A thorough investigation was ordered, but the cause was straightforward. India has problems with landslides on her railways, as the Vaibhavwadi rail disaster almost exactly a year before shows. In that crash, vital anti-collision devices weren't installed when they should have been, and here too, adequate precautionary measures before the fact might have prevented the crash.

Similar accidents

Landslides can be classed with washaways. * -

Tangiwai disaster The Tangiwai disaster occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953 when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand. The locomotive and the first six carriages ...

* -

Veligonda train disaster The Valigonda rail disaster occurred on 29 October 2005 near the town of Valigonda, south of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. A flash flood swept away a small rail bridge, and a " Delta Fast Passenger" train traveling on it ...

External links

BBC News Report

Arab News News Report

Overview

Similar accidents

External links

See also