Two goods trains derailed due to “signal overshoot" near Singhpur railway station in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh on early Wednesday morning. The incident occurred near Singhpur station at around 6:50 am, PTI reported.
Initially, there was information about a collision, however, an official denied the reports and said that the trains had derailed.
“The derailment took place because of signal overshoot,” the official said without giving more details, PTI reported.
In the video shared by the news agency, the engines of both the trains can be seen on fire while several wagons are flipped on their sides. One wagon can be seen on top of the other, and several wagons towards the end of the train are seen either toppled on their sides or on top of the other.
After getting information about the train accident, top officials of the Railways and police rushed to the spot and guided the rescue operations.
All trains on the Bilaspur-Katni route were affected, the officials told the new agency. Efforts were on to restore the rail traffic and relief operation was underway.
According to the Times Of India, the trains were loaded with coal when the accident took place. Senior officials of the South East Central Railway (SECR) will probe into the causes that led to the incident.
Saket Ranjan, CPRO, SECR said, "Prima facie signal overshoot had led to derailment", TOI reported.
A similar incident had taken place on February 16 this year. Two goods trains collided and derailed near Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur railway station on the Sultanpur-Varanasi railway track. The drivers of both trains were severely injured and were sent to the district hospital for treatment, PTI reported citing Railway officials.
The report added that a total of 9 wagons of the freight train, that were empty, overturned in the head-on collision damaging both trains. Many other boggies jumped off the track. Following the accident, train routes of Varanasi-Lucknow and Ayodhya-Prayagraj were disrupted.