VIJAYAWADA
The passengers stranded at the Vijayawada railway station on Monday, October 30, a day after the train accident near Vizianagaram, expressed anguish over the frequent train mishaps that were claiming many lives.
Over 280 passengers died and over 1,000 suffered injuries at the Bahanaga Bazar railway station, when the Coromandel Express train crashed into a stationary goods train and the bogies jumped and fell on the Yashwantpur-Howrah Express train passing on the adjacent track, in June this year.
Even as the disaster is still fresh in the minds of people, the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train rammed the stationary Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger train from behind near the Kantakapalli railway station in Vizianagaram district on Sunday, October 29, leading to the death of 14 passengers and injuries to 38.
The passengers who were waiting in the Vijayawada railway station with their families, were visibly disturbed over the accidents.
“I came to the station to go to Anakapalli, but many trains have been cancelled. The ghastly train mishaps show the negligence of the officials on passenger safety,” lamented N. Srilakshmi.
“How can two trains come on the same track at the same time. The same fault occurred in both Bahanaga Bazar and Kantakapalli train mishaps. It should be either a technical failure or human error,” felt another passenger, Boddu Sitaram.
“The Railways should conduct an in-depth inquiry into the train tragedies. It should find out whether the fresh accident occurred due to a signal failure, human negligence, poor communication or other reasons,” said a private employee, B. Ramakrishna, who was waiting to go to Rajahmundry.
“Railway officers speak a lot on passenger safety, maintenance and punctuality. But the train mishaps tell a different story causing concern among passengers,” remarked Jhansi Khatun of Odisha. “Every time a train accident happens, the government announces ex gratia to victims, cancels trains, and orders an inquiry. But accidents keep happening bringing untold misery to the victim families,” she bemoaned.
