Kolkata, June 18
The death toll in the Kanchanjunga Express-goods train collision in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district has risen to 10, said officials, adding that the train has returned to Sealdah.A senior official from the state administration confirmed that a passenger of the Kanchanjunga Express, who was injured in the mishap and was undergoing treatment at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital at Siliguri, died Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, several trains were cancelled while some were diverted on Tuesday, officials said.
According to an official release from the Northeast Frontier Railways, five trains, including (15719) Katihar-Siliguri Intercity Express, (15720) Siliguri-Katihar Intercity Express, (12042) New Jalpaiguri-Howrah Shatabdi Express, (12041) Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi Express and (15724) Siliguri-Jogbani Intercity Express have been cancelled for Tuesday.
Train number 12523 from New Jalpaiguri to New Delhi Superfast Express has been rescheduled to leave at 12.00 hrs, as per the release by Northeast Frontier Railways Chief Public Relations officer Sabyasachi De.
As per the railways, train number 20504 from New Delhi–Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express, 13176 from Silchar–Sealedah Kanchanjungha Express, and 12523 from New Jalpaiguri–New Delhi Superfast Express were diverted.
Subhendu Kumar Choudhary, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Katihar Northeast Frontier Railway, said, “Restoration work has been going on since night. The trial of an engine was carried out upline along with two goods trains and one Shatabdi train towards NJP (New Jalpaiguri Junction) yesterday. Since it is an accident site, the trial was done with some caution. Within half an hour, the line beside it will also be restored.”
Earlier, on Monday, nine bodies were recovered, which included the loco-pilot of the goods train, guard of Kanchanjunga Express and seven passengers travelling in the two compartments affected by the collision.
Railways officials said that of the 10 deceased so far, seven have been identified. Those identified include Asish De (47), the guard of Kanchanjunga Express and Anil Kumar (46), the loco-pilot of the goods train
The remaining five deceased persons who have been identified are Subhajit Mali (32), Celeb Subba (36), Beauty Begum (41) Shankar Mohan Das (63) and Vijay Kumar Raj. Subba is a sub-inspector with West Bengal Police.
Attempts are on to track the identities of the other three deceased persons.
Railway officials said one factor that limited casualties is the fact that the rear part of Kanchanjunga Express comprised the parcel coach and the guard’s coach while the passenger compartments further ahead suffered less impact.
Meanwhile, the mishap-hit Kanchanjunga Express arrived at Sealdah station at 3.20 am on Tuesday carrying the passengers in the unaffected compartments.
They were received at the station by the state municipal affairs and urban development minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, state transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty, the divisional general manager of Sealdah and other senior officials of the railways department.
The passengers were provided with food and drinking water at the station only.
