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Journalism of Courage
Four coaches of the 2301 up Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express derailed tonight on a bridge near the Rafiganj station between Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone in Bihar on Eastern Railway’s Mughalsarai division, a spokesman said.
There were no confirmed reports of casualties yet but according to an Eastern Railway official, one coach had fallen off the bridge. And at least two others were perched precariously. Officials have declined to speculate on the possible causes of the accident.
| EMERGENCY NUMBERS |
| New Delhi: 3344128, also call 131. Special booth at New Delhi station on platform No 1 Patna: (0612) 305280; Howrah: (033) 6605430 |
Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar was travelling from Patna to New Delhi, on board another Rajdhani Express. The train was scheduled to arrive in Mughalsarai at around 1 am.
Sources said that the driver lost contact with the control room at Gaya at 10.54 pm, over five hours after the train left Howrah. Authorities said a relief train and a medical van have been rushed from Mughalsarai and another from Gaya. A special train with the General Manager (Eastern Railway) and senior officers top brass of the Eastern Railway also left Howrah tonight.
This is the second time the Rajdhani Express on the Delhi-Howrah route has met with an accident, the first in January 1993, when the New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani rammed into a derailed goods train near Kanpur .
