Bhagalpur railway accident

The Bhagalpur railway accident on December 1, 2006 was caused by a collapsing bridge in Bhagalpur in the Indian state of Bihar , which fell on an express train passing underneath . 35 people died.

Starting position

The Superfast Express No. 3071 of the Indian Railways / Eastern Railways was en route from Jamalpur to Howrah . The railway line was in the area of the railway station of Bhagalpur from the Ulta-Pul Bridge, a then about 140-year-old and disused footbridge crosses. A new bridge had already taken over its function. The old bridge consisted of brick barrel vaults . The demolition work on the bridge only took place at night in order to disrupt train traffic as little as possible. The first two arches had been removed two nights earlier. Fragments of the bridge had also fallen onto the tracks . The third arch of the bridge was still standing and in the 24 hours before the accident the train traffic below it had passed without incident.

the accident

When the train passed under this third arch around 7:50 a.m., no demolition work took place. Nevertheless, the third arch of the bridge and a pillar , on which no demolition work had been carried out, collapsed and fell onto the eleventh car of the train , a sleeping car of the lower class (S-8). The car was half crushed and buried under the rubble.

consequences

35 people died in the accident and 17 others were injured. Although the railway in Bhagalpur has a rescue unit for emergencies and the scene of the accident was in the station area, it took two hours before rescue workers arrived on site. The rescue work was mainly done by local helpers. Two senior engineers in the regional railroad administration were suspended for neglect of their duties. A first rescue train took 7 hours to arrive at the scene of the accident.

literature

• NN: Bhagalpur tragedy: Lalu blames officials, contractor . In: The Hindu v. December 1, 2006.

Web links

• NN: Bhagalpur train tragedy: Survivors speak . In: Rediff India Abroad v. December 2, 2006.
• NN: Bihar: 32 killed as bridge collapses on train . In: Rediff India Abroad v. December 2, 2006.
• NN: Bridge collapses over train, kills 34 . In: IBN Live v. December 1, 2006.
• NN: Ulta Pul, the killer bridge . In: Sify News, undated, shortly after the accident; Photo from the scene of the accident.
• Sushmita Sen: Timeline: Railway Mishaps in Bihar . In: International Business Times v. June 25, 2014.

Remarks

1. ↑ In Hindi , “ulta” means “upside down” and “pul” means “bridge”.

Individual evidence

1. ^ NN: Bhagalpur train tragedy .
2. ^ NN: Bhagalpur train tragedy .
3. ^ NN: Bridge collapses ; NN: Bihar: 32 killed ; NN: Bhagalpur train tragedy .
4. ^ NN: Bridge collapses .
5. ^ NN: Bridge collapses .

Coordinates: 25 ° 14 ′ 27.4 ″  N , 86 ° 58 ′ 16.1 ″  E