Rafiganj railway accident

In the railway accident in Rafiganj, the luxury train Rajdhani Express of Indian Railways derailed on September 10, 2002 on the bridge over the Dhave river at Rafiganj station near Gaya in the Indian state of Bihar . More than 130 people were killed. It remained controversial whether this was an assassination attempt or an accident .

Starting position

The Rajdhani Express , a train of the Eastern Railway, was on its way from Howrah ( Calcutta ) to New Delhi with around 1000 passengers . On his journey he had at Rafiganj to 22:40 the river Dhave on a bridge crossing. At this point he was driving about 130 km / h.

the accident

Rail joint screwed with brackets

15 of the train's carriages derailed on the bridge and two fell into the river. Nobody survived here. People were also thrown into the depths from other passenger cars and corpses were recovered from the river for days.

Initially, a broken rail due to an outdated railway infrastructure was suspected as the cause of the accident. However, the official investigation came to the conclusion that tabs had been removed from rail joints that were found next to the tracks . It has been suggested that this was the act of Naxalite terrorists . However, no one confessed to the "attack". That is why the assumption arose that the state and its railroad should divert attention from their own shortcomings in the maintenance of the permanent way.

consequences

More than 130 people died and more than 150 were injured. The rescue work turned out to be difficult as the local roads were unsurfaced and softened by rainfall . A total of 130 bodies were recovered, the number of missing people was estimated at up to 50.

Web links

• Soroor Ahmed and Anand Mohan Sahay: Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express derails; 150 feared killed . In: rediff.com v. September 10, 2002.
• Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey: India: 260 victims in train crash - September 10, 2002 . In: pravda .ru v. September 10, 2009.
• NN: India: 100 people race to their deaths on a high-tech train . In: Spiegel-Online v. September 10, 2002.
• NN: Rajdhani Express Derails near Gaya, many feared dead . In: INS News.
• NN: Sabotage? Nitish says yes, Advani no . In: The Times of India v. September 10, 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ahmed.
2. ↑ NN: Sabotage?
3. ↑ Ahmed.
4. ↑ Ahmed.
5. ↑ NN: Rajdhani Express Derails .
6. ↑ NN: Sabotage?
7. ↑ NN: Rajdhani Express Derails .
8. ↑ NN: Sabotage?

Coordinates: 24 ° 49 ′ 54 ″  N , 84 ° 30 ′ 42.1 ″  E