“TRAGIC”
West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the crash “tragic” in a post on social media.
“Doctors, ambulances and disaster teams have been rushed to the site for rescue, recovery, medical assistance,” Banerjee said. “Action on war footing initiated.”
Banerjee said the crash took place in the Phansidewa area of Darjeeling district, when the Kanchenjunga Express train was hit by a goods train.
Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the “injured are being shifted to the hospital”.
India has one of the world’s largest rail networks and has seen several disasters over the years, the worst in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar state, killing an estimated 800 people.
In June last year, a three-train collision killed nearly 300 people in Odisha state.
In recent years, India has been investing huge sums of money to upgrade the network with modern stations and electronic signalling systems.
On Sunday, a train crossed for the first time the world’s highest railway bridge – 359m above a river – in India’s Himalayan region, the railways minister Vaishnaw said.
The arch-shaped steel structure over the Chenab River links sections of northern Jammu and Kashmir state, connecting the disputed territory to the rest of India.
Work on the railway track has been ongoing for nearly three decades, and the trial run comes ahead of a formal opening expected within weeks.
