Bengal train accident: Rahul Gandhi attacks Modi govt, says ‘direct result of…’

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday expressed his condolences to families of those who lost their lives in the train accident in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.

“The news of the death of many people due to the accident of Kanchanjunga Express in West Bengal is extremely sad. I express my deepest condolences to all the bereaved families and hope for the speedy recovery of the injured,” Rahul Gandhi posted on X in Hindi.

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Gandhi also criticised the Narendra Modi government's track record on railway safety and attributed the rise in railway accidents over the last decade to "mismanagement and negligence."

“Today's accident is another example of this reality - as a responsible opposition, we will continue to question this blatant negligence and hold the Modi government accountable for these accidents.”

A cargo train collided with the passenger train in West Bengal's Darjeeling district on Monday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and several injuries. The deceased include the pilot and co-pilot of the goods train, a senior railway official said.

Rescue operations are ongoing, with multiple agencies working to save any passengers still trapped inside the wreckage.

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Initial reports suggest that the goods train may have overshot a signal before colliding with the stationary passenger train. However, officials have yet to confirm whether signaling system issues contributed to the accident.

The Kanchanjunga Express is a daily train that connects West Bengal state with other cities in the northeast. It is often used by tourists who travel to the hill station of Darjeeling, popular at this time of year when other Indian cities are sweltering in the heat.

The accident has disrupted long-distance train services from north Bengal and the northeastern part of the country.

This incident follows another catastrophic train crash last year in eastern India, which claimed over 280 lives, marking one of the country's deadliest railway accidents in recent decades.

With inputs from agencies