At least 22 coaches of the Sabarmati Express derailed on Saturday near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, ANI reported. No casualties were reported.
The incident occurred between the Kanpur and Bhimsen railway stations, Additional District Magistrate Rakesh Verma told ANI. The train was travelling from Varanasi to Ahmedabad.
In a post on X, the Indian Railways said that the incident occurred at 2.30 am. “There is no loss of life or property in this,” it said. “According to the driver, prima facie a boulder hit the engine and the engine’s cattle guard was badly damaged/bent.”
Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw claimed that the engine of the Sabarmati Express “hit an object placed on the track” and derailed. “Sharp hit marks are observed,” he said in a post on X. “Evidence is protected. IB [Intelligence Bureau] and UP [Uttar Pradesh] police are also working on it.”
Following the incident, the Railways dispatched buses to take the passengers to Kanpur, ANI reported. Another train was also dispatched to facilitate their transportation.
Responding to the derailment, the Congress on Saturday said that 21 railway accidents had taken place in the 70 days since the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government took charge after the recent Lok Sabha elections.
“But the government does not care,” the Congress said in a post on X, claiming that this was a “small incident” for the railways minister.
The last few months have seen a series of train derailments in the country.
On July 30, at least two people were killed and 20 others injured when 18 coaches of the Mumbai-Howrah Mail derailed in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
The accident occurred when the train collided with a stationary goods train in the Chakradharpur Division of the South Eastern Railway.
The derailment in Seraikela-Kharsawan marked India’s third major railway accident in less than two months. A goods train derailed in West Bengal on June 17 and a passenger train collided with a goods train in Uttar Pradesh on July 18, killing a total of 12 persons.
In June 2023, 288 passengers were killed and around 900 injured when three trains collided with each other in Odisha’s Balasore, marking one of India’s worst train accidents.