Prabhu offers to quit after another train derailment
NEW RLY BOARD CHIEF Air India CMD Lohani takes charge as Mittal resigns
Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu hinted that he had offered to quit in the wake of two back-to-back train accidents, including the latest Kaifiyat Express mishap near Auraiya that left a 100 injured on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Ashwani Lohani, the chairman and managing director of Air India, was appointed the new chairman of the Railway Board following AK Mittal’s resignation from the post.
Earlier in the day, the Delhibound Kaifiyat Express had derailed after hitting a dumper, four days after 23 people died in a derailment in Muzaffarnagar.
Officials said the latest accident occurred at around 2.50 am when the train hit a sand-laden dumper which overturned at an unmanned level crossing between Pata and Achalda railway stations about 20 minutes before the train was to pass through.
Twelve passenger bogies of the train, the engine and the brake van derailed due to the impact of the collision.
General manager, North Central Railway, MK Chauhan blamed the driver of the dumper for the mishap and said there was no error on the part of the railway or its employees.
“We will investigate the matter and take action against the company that hired the dumper and its driver,” he said after visiting the injured at hospitals in Auraiya.
According to media reports, Mittal tendered his resignation to Prabhu after the Kaifiyat Express accident.
On August 19, the Kalinga-Utkal Express had derailed in Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar in the state, killing 22 people and injuring 156 others. The accident was apparently caused by negligence of railway staffers, who, preliminary investigations
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