kalka-shimla railway : Accident leaves seven injured : Passengers say train was speeding, Railways blames landslide : Inquiry ordered : Compensation announced : All trains on the route cancelled till further orders

One passenger lost his life while seven others sustained injuries when the Kalka-Shimla Holiday Special train derailed on the World Heritage railway route, on its first trip of the season. The accident occurred near Dharampur railway station on Sunday morning. The deceased, Surinder Singh (23), was a first year student of Bachelor of Arts at the Government College for Men in Sector 11, Chandigarh. Surinder was on a holiday trip to Shimla with cousin Narinder and a friend, Devesh.

The train left for Shimla at 6.10 am with 30 passengers on board. Around 8.15 am, the train reached a curve in Tunnel No. 27, about a kilometre from the Dharampur railway station, when the engine and three coaches got derailed.

The injured were rushed to the Dharampur Community Health Centre from where six were discharged after first-aid, while a severely injured Vandana Pandey (34), a resident of Baltana, was referred to the PGI in Chandigarh. The six injured are Ravi Pratap Pandey; Sangeeta Tiwari, a resident of Chandigarh; R K Tiwari, Sergeant, Indian Air Force, posted in West Bengal; Sadhu Das (40), Jhilik Das (17) and Rothim Das, all residents of West Bengal.

According to Vinod Kumar, who was driving the train, the derailment occurred because of a boulder on the track. The passengers, however, said the train was speeding. “The train was running at a high speed. After it reached the tunnel, the driver could not maintain balance while negotiating a curve. Suddenly we heard loud noises and felt a massive jerk. All passengers fell off their seats and there were screams and cries all over,” said Rothim Das, one of the injured passengers.

... contd.