Five coaches and the locomotive of the Mizoram-bound Kolkata-Sairang Express jumped tracks near Digaru railway station in Assam at 6:54 am today.
No fatalities occurred. The train, running its long-haul route from Kolkata toward Sairang, jumped the rails after the loco pilot failed to control operating speed while attempting to allow another train to overtake, railway officials confirmed in an official statement. Emergency relief teams reached the site within minutes to launch track-clearing operations.
Yet official casualty claims drew immediate scrutiny. While railway authorities maintained that no passengers suffered injuries in the derailment, ground visuals from a nearby hospital showed commuters receiving medical care for minor trauma sustained during the impact.
Railway authorities attributed the incident directly to operational handling on approach. According to the railway's formal incident brief, the locomotive crew misjudged track entry while clearing the main line for approaching traffic.
The train tried to let another pass but the loco pilot could not control the speed, resulting in an unfortunate incident of derailment, in which the locomotive along with five coaches derailed.
Railway Authorities
The sudden deceleration jolted passengers inside the forward compartments before the rake ground to a halt off the sleepers. Operations teams isolated the derailed stock to clear the route and organized a relief train to ferry stranded travelers onward to their destinations in Mizoram.
| Incident Metric | Verified Parameter |
|---|---|
| Service Involved | Kolkata-Sairang Express |
| Location | Digaru railway station, Assam |
| Time of Derailment | 6:54 AM |
| Rolling Stock Derailed | Locomotive plus 5 passenger coaches |
| Official Casualty Report | Nil officially; minor injuries treated locally |
| Transit Contingency | Alternate rake mobilized for stranded travelers |
The Operational Context: Digaru acts as a critical transit junction feeding trunk traffic through central Assam into northeastern terminal links. Any speed miscalculation during passing loops threatens broad corridor delays across the Northeast Frontier network.
Senior engineers and safety inspectors have initiated track inspection protocols at the Digaru site to verify track-geometry clearance and examine driver control logs before restoring normal traffic along the line.