Kolkata-Sairang Express derails near Guwahati; all passengers safe

The locomotive and five coaches of the Kolkata-Sairang Express derailed at Digaru railway station near Guwahati in Assam's Kamrup (Metropolitan) district at around 6.54 am on Wednesday (11 November). Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said all passengers were safe and no injuries were reported, and the passengers were being sent on to their destinations by an alternative train. The train, No. 13125, runs from Kolkata's Chitpur terminal to Sairang near Aizawl in Mizoram.

NFR said the train was being received at Digaru station to give precedence to another train when the incident happened. “The loco pilot could not control the speed, resulting in an unfortunate incident of derailment, in which the locomotive along with 5 coaches derailed,” NFR's chief public relations officer Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said, according to The Indian Express. “All passengers are safe and no injury was reported.” Relief and rescue work began immediately, and the NFR general manager and other senior officials went to the site.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X that all passengers were safe but that four had suffered minor injuries and were being treated, which differs from the railway's initial statement. “All stranded passengers have been provided with basic necessities and alternative travel train has been arranged for the journey,” he wrote.

A video that purportedly shows the moments before the derailment, recorded from inside the locomotive, has circulated. The Times of India reported that the driver can be heard saying, “Signal red hai... emergency laga hua hai, lekin kaam nahi kar raha hai. Kuch bhi kaam nahi kar raha hai,” which means the signal is red, the emergency brake is applied but not working, and nothing is working. The railway has not confirmed brake failure, and the exact cause of the derailment is yet to be established.

A local resident who rushed to the site, about 500 metres from the station, told ANI that several houses stand nearby but nobody was hurt. The derailment also disrupted other services in the region: the Guwahati-Jorhat Town Jan Shatabdi Express was controlled at Panbari and the Coimbatore-Silchar Express was regulated at Panikhaiti, The Times of India reported.