India train mishap: human error suspected; 15 die

At least nine people were killed and more than 100 other injured when two trains collided near the South Indian city of Chennai on Tuesday evening. Unofficial reports, however, put the death toll at 15, according to Indian media reports.

The accident occurred around 75 kilometres from the port city of Chennai around 9.30pm (1600 GMT) when one train slammed into the back of another that was standing stationary at a signal point.

Meanwhile, the Railway Ministry has said that human error could have led to the accident as the passenger jumped signal and over-sped causing the collision, reported 'IndiaToday'.

The driver allegedly ran the train at almost 90 km per hour where the speed limit was 15kph. The driver is injured and hospitalised.

According to NDTV reports, railway officials suspect it to be a case of over-speeding, but say it is too early to speculate on what exactly caused the accident.

Railway authorities have also said that the train that collided skipped signals and its driver jumped out before the collision, it added.

Five bogies of the stationary train and three bogies of the moving train derailed after the accident.

Meanwhile, an AFP report quoted a police Inspector General Syleendra Babu as saying: "We have confirmation of seven dead so far."

Some TV reports had put the death toll as high as 15.

Briefing reporters in New Delhi, Indian Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi said the final casualty figure had yet to be confirmed, but added that the rescue operation had been completed with emergency teams cutting their way into all the damaged carriages.

"The precise cause of the accident cannot be ascertained at the moment," Trivedi said, adding that he would be travelling to the accident site on the first available flight.

India's state-run railway system - still the main form of long-distance travel despite fierce competition from private airlines - carries 18.5 million people every day.

While new shiny airport infrastructure is springing up across the country, the Indian railways - a much romanticised legacy of British colonial rule - often appear stuck in a time-warp.

After decades of under-investment, the rolling stock is old, speeds are low, signalling is done manually in some areas, and a lack of fencing makes the network a soft target for militants.

The last major accident occurred in July when a packed express train travelling from Kolkata to New Delhi derailed at high speed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, killing 63 people.

The worst accident was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river in the eastern state of Bihar, killing an estimated 800 people.

The last railways minister, the arch-populist Mamata Banerjee, announced in February a 40 percent hike in the annual railway budget to Rs576 billion rupees ($12.9bn).

But critics say successive budget hikes have failed to improve safety records, as only a miniscule amount is spent on upgrading key areas such as signalling and track maintenance.

Indian Railways has an engorged payroll and is financially inefficient with operating costs, including salaries, accounting for more than 90 percent of revenue.

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