Thaindian News

Kolkata, Jan 8 (IANS) One person was killed and six others injured when a local train collided with a stationary train in West Bengal’s Nadia district Saturday, a railway official said. Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has announced compensation for the victims.

“The accident happened when the Shantipur-Sealdah local hit another Sealdah-Shantipur local which was waiting at the platform of the Fulia station,” said Samir Goswami, chief public relations officer for Eastern Railways.

“An Up Sealdah-Shantipur local was stationary at the station. In a primary report, it is known that the motorman of Down Shantipur local disregarded the red signal for which there was a head-on collision between those two local trains,” said a press statement issued by the Eastern Railways.

An off-duty railway gateman of Phulia station, Purnendu Mandal, died and six passengers were injured in the train accident at Phulia station on the Ranaghat-Shantipur section of Eastern Railways’ Sealdah Division, about 86 km from Sealdah.

Trivedi announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs.5 lakh to the nearest kin of the dead person and Rs.50,000 to each of the six injured passengers.

“Three coaches of the Up train and two coaches of the Down train got derailed, affecting train services between Kalinarayanpur and Shantipur station,” the statement said.

It added that two accident relief trains, one from Ranaghat and another from Sealdah that carried railway doctors, reached the site after the incident.