PTI said the victims jumped off the Pushpak Express train, which had stopped after some passengers pulled an emergency chain. Those who disembarked were hit by another express train on the adjacent railroad track, PTI quoted railway spokesman Swapnil Nila as saying.

Victims of a train accident are treated in the Vrundavan Multispecialty Hospital in India on Jan. 23, 2025. (ANI)

“Our preliminary information is that there were sparks inside one of the coaches of the Pushpak Express due to either a ‘hot axle’ or ‘brake-binding’ (jamming), and some passengers panicked. They pulled the chain, and some of them jumped down on the tracks. At the same time, Karnataka Express was passing on the adjoining track,” a senior railway official told PTI.

Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, hundreds of accidents occur every year on India’s railways, which comprise the largest train network under one management in the world.

In 2023, two passenger trains collided after derailing in eastern India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds in one of the country’s deadliest rail crashes in decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focusing on the modernization of the British colonial-era railroad network in India, which has become the world’s most populous country with 1.42 billion.