In a letter to general managers of all zones, the Railway Board has directed that a safety drive should be launched immediately with special focus on all 'goomties' (rooms along tracks) housing signalling equipment within station limits.
The engine driver and the guard of the goods trains, however, escaped unhurt, the official added.
Protests against the Waqf Act turned violent in parts of West Bengal on Friday, with demonstrators setting ablaze vehicles, disrupting traffic and rail movement, and injuring several policemen. The unrest erupted in Suti, Murshidabad district, where protesters defied prohibitory orders, hurled stones at security personnel, and torched police vans and public buses during processions. Police responded with lathi charges and tear gas, while some officers were forced to seek refuge in a nearby mosque. Similar protests were held in Malda and Kolkata, prompting Governor C V Ananda Bose to direct the state government to take swift action against those responsible. The governor also contacted Union Home Minister Amit Shah and held discussions with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which was recently passed by both houses of Parliament, aims to improve the management of Waqf properties, safeguarding heritage sites and promoting social welfare.
China is set to build a rail link connecting Xinjiang province with Tibet, part of which will run near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India.
The CBI has charged the accused under Indian Penal Code Section 304 part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 34 read with 201 (common cause read with destruction of evidence) and 153 of the Railways Act.
They described the functioning of the interlocking system which prima facie seemed to have been part of the problem which led to the accident, in which at least 275 people were killed.
The incident occurred at the Santhaldih railway crossing, near the Bhojudih railway station, and the tractor got stuck between the railway track and the gate.
The CBI has seized the log book, relay panel and equipment, a railway official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Assam and West Bengal to lay the foundation stones of several projects.
More trains of South Eastern Railway are likely to be cancelled on Saturday if the flood situation deteriorates.
Another woman from Malda district said that her son was killed in the accident.
A rail track between Sonua and Lotapahar stations in West Singhbhum, under Chakradharpur Division of South Eastern Railway (SER), was damaged past Friday night in a blast that was allegedly triggered by the Maoists.
A 12-year-old girl was killed after she came in contact with a dangling live wire that got torn during the squall in Botanical Garden area in Howrah city, the police said.
C P Rizwan led the UAE to its first win in a T20 World Cup match, played 42 ODIs and 18 T20Is before he retired this week. 'I end my international career with a heavy heart, but I feel proud of what I have achieved,' Rizwan tells K R Nayar.
Around 300 trains came to a grinding halt at various places on Tuesday afternoon due to failure of both the Northern and the Eastern grids covering close to 10 states, with movement on the busy Delhi-Howrah route almost paralysed.
As Odisha and West Bengal are bracing for a severe cyclonic storm, governments of both states started evacuating people and while deciding to close educational institutions in vulnerable areas.
The railways has initiated a high-level probe into the train crash in Odisha to be headed by the commissioner of railway safety, South Eastern Circle.
CAG says Railways lost about Rs 4,300 crore in 2008-2012 because of improper documentation.
The protest started at 6 am on Tuesday with the blockade of the old National Highway 6, which connects Kolkata to Mumbai, at Khemasuli in Kharagpur Local police station area by Kudmi Samaj West Bengal, they said.
As severe cyclonic storm 'Remal' initiated its landfall process between the coasts of Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal on Sunday evening, authorities took swift action, evacuating over 1 lakh people from vulnerable areas of the state to safety.
Hockey India today condoled the death of former India player Abdul Hamid in his home-town of Jhansi.
Earlier, four men claiming to be Maoists turned up at the Urma railway station at around 2000 hrs and told the assistant station master and two porters to stop train services and leave immediately, Divisional Railway Manager A K Halder said in Purulia.
Five south Bengal districts including Kolkata were lashed by gale and heavy rains on Tuesday evening which disrupted train services in Eastern Railway's Sealdah main line section.
Train services in the Kharagpur-Tatanagar section of South Eastern Railway were suspended on Wednesay after the railways received information that Maoists might target Mumbai-Howrah Duronto Express.
Tulsidas Balaram, who passed into the ages last week, was a member of the Indian football team which reached the semis at the Olympics and won an Asian Games gold medal.
The passengers of Howrah bound Kandari Express from Digha that reached its destination on Friday wee hour after several hours of scheduled time, were worried about getting back home. But, none of the 325 passengers could imagine that a pleasant surprise was awaiting them from Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
A recommendatory letter purported to have been written by Bihar Governor Buta Singh to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad seeking favour for 2 senior railway officers has sparked off a controversy.
The CRS has recommended that a drive should be launched to update the completion signalling wiring diagrams, other documents and lettering of signaling circuits at site.
The derailment of the Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express in West Midnapore district, which left at least 75 passengers dead on Friday, threw up a number of contradictions on what caused the mishap. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who flew to the accident spot in a helicopter, said the derailment was caused by a bomb blast and indicated that Maoists were behind it.
Suspected Maoists triggered a landmine blast on a railway track near Jhargram in West Midnapore district on Wednesday, injuring two drivers of a goods train and leaving the engine of the freight train damaged.
The railways heritage lines that are part of the UNESCO-accorded sites list include Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway, and Kalka Shimla Railway.
Passengers of the New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express had a narrow escape in the wee hours of Wednesday, as suspected Maoists removed the connectors between two tracks on a 400-metre stretch near Gidni station in West Bengal just before the train was to cross the area.
An eight-year old boy was rescued from the accident site in West Midnapore on Friday.
Several trains under the purview of SER and ECoR were cancelled or diverted on Wednesday, including the premium Rajdhani Express and Vande Bharat Express, owing to the blockade by members of the Kurmi community in Jharkhand and Odisha, officials said.
Both were rescued from the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express that derailed near Bahanaga Bazar Station on June 2 that had claimed 275 lives and left around 1,200 injured.
Passengers on the Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express had a narrow escape on Friday when its engine and generator van got separated from the rest of the train. There was no report of any injury to any passenger. The central buffer coupling (CBC) that attaches the coaches and the engine along with the front generator van snapped.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday took into custody three railway personnel in connection with the June 2 Balasore train accident, making its first arrests in the case, officials said.
The police lodged a suo motu case against unknown persons in connection with their involvement in the mishap, a police officer said.
The headquarters of the South Eastern Railway, Calcutta Improvement Trust and Calcutta Telephones in the metropolis have been identified by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation as among the 500 defaulting property tax payers over the past 4 to 5 years.
Kurla Express, which was scheduled to leave Shalimar station at 3.00 pm, was cancelled for the day.
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