Two local trains collide near Kolkata's Sealdah rly station, no casualties reported

Kolkata, Nov 30 (IANS) Two local trains collided near Kolkata's Sealdah railway station on Wednesday morning, sources said.

However, no casualties were reported.

According to railway sources, one local train started from platform number three of the Sealdah station towards Ranaghat in Nadia district. Simultaneously, another train, not carrying any passenger, started from platform number six towards the nearby car-shed.

However, due to some signaling error, both trains came on the same track as a result of which the car-shed bound train rammed the rear part of the other.

As the trains were moving at an extremely slow speed, the impact of the collision was not mild. But the driver's cabin of the train moving towards the car-shed got damaged.

Chief Public Relation Officer of the Eastern Railways, Ekalabya Chakroborty told media persons that there had been no report of casualty or injury because of the mishap. "There had not been any major damage to the rakes also. A committee has been formed which will investigate the matter and submit a report within the next 24 hours," he said.

Meanwhile, railway sources said that the reasons for the accident might be any technical glitches in the signaling system following which both the trains came on the same track. The railway officials are also not ruling out any human error, which will be revealed after the probe in the matter. In that case actions will be initiated as per rules against those on whose part there was the human error.

Following the collision, a number of local trains got stranded on the tracks just before entering the Sealdah station. Many of the passengers got down from the train and started walking on the tracks to reach their destination.