Kolkata-Sairang Express derails at Digaru near Guwahati; NFR says all safe

The Mizoram-bound Kolkata-Sairang Express derailed at Digaru railway station on the outskirts of Guwahati early on Wednesday, November 11, with its locomotive and several coaches leaving the tracks.

According to a statement from Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), the accident took place at about 6:54 am while Train No. 13125 was being taken into Digaru station in Kamrup (Metro) district so that another train could pass. The railway said the loco pilot "could not control the speed", which led to the locomotive and five coaches derailing.

Railways says no one hurt

NFR said all passengers were safe and that nobody was injured. Passengers are being sent on to their destinations in an alternate train, it said, and relief and rescue work began immediately. The NFR General Manager and other senior officials went to the site.

NFR Chief Public Relations Officer Kapinjal Kishore Sharma separately told news agency ANI that six coaches had come off the tracks and that no casualties had been reported so far.

Some early reports from the spot had said that a few passengers were hurt, and the exact count of derailed coaches has differed between accounts, from five to seven. The railway's official statement says five coaches and the engine derailed and that there were no injuries. NEInsider will update this story if the railway revises those figures.

What we know so far

• Train: 13125 Kolkata-Sairang Express, running from Kolkata towards Sairang near Aizawl in Mizoram.
• Place and time: Digaru railway station, Kamrup (Metro) district, at about 6:54 am on November 11.
• Derailed: the locomotive and five coaches, according to NFR's statement.
• Cause given by NFR: the loco pilot was unable to control the train's speed as it was being received at the station.
• Passengers: being moved by an alternate train.

The railway has not yet said how long restoration work at Digaru will take or whether other trains on the Guwahati-Lumding route will be cancelled, diverted or delayed. Passengers travelling on the section today should check train status through official railway channels before setting out.

An important link for Mizoram

The Kolkata-Sairang Express is one of the trains that connects Mizoram directly with the rest of the country after the Bairabi-Sairang line brought the state capital region onto the national rail network. Any disruption on the route through Guwahati affects travel to Mizoram, the Barak Valley and Tripura.

The accident is the second derailment involving a passenger train in Assam in under two weeks. On October 29, the locomotive of the Silchar-Guwahati Express derailed near Badarpur in Sribhumi district, also without casualties.

NEInsider will update this story as the railway releases more details, including any inquiry ordered into the derailment.