The Valigonda rail disaster occurred on 29 October 2005 near the town of Valigonda, south of

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

in the Indian state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. A flash flood swept away a small rail bridge, and a " Delta Fast Passenger" train traveling on it derailed at the broken section of the line, killing at least 114 people and injuring over 200.

Accident details

The train was traveling south at night, packed with hundreds of sleeping holiday makers visiting relatives for Diwali, when a huge

irrigation tank In Sri Lanka and India an irrigation tank or tank is an artificial reservoir of any size. They are part of a historic tradition of harvesting and preserving rainwater in the region. Often an embankment such as a mud bank was constructed across a sl ...

situated upstream from the rail lines ruptured, sending thousands of gallons of water down the channel, destroying the bridge in the darkness. When the passenger train hit the broken section a short time later, nobody had reported the damage, and the engine and seven coaches of the train disappeared into the gap created by the broken line. Four

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

crashed into a field close to where the track had been, whilst three more fell into the channel and were swept farther afield into deeper water, where most of the fatalities occurred. In the day following the accident, the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

supplied

divers Diver or divers may refer to: *Diving (sport), the sport of performing acrobatics while jumping or falling into water *Practitioner of underwater diving, including: **scuba diving, **freediving, **surface-supplied diving, **saturation diving, a ...

, who dove into the flood waters with

blow torch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking. Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir attach ...

es to try to rescue people who might have been trapped in air pockets in the sunken carriages. Reportedly, several people were rescued this way. The

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

and

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

also provided assistance with rescue, medical and heavy lift helicopters, by collecting bodies and maintaining security at the site. The area had been lashed by

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

rains for several weeks before the accident, which had waterlogged fields and over-filled the irrigation tank, which had ruptured due to unknown factors exacerbated by the heavy volume of rainfall. The flooding had also destroyed several roads, hampering efforts to get emergency personnel to the scene quickly.

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's Junior Transport Minister commented that "little could have been done to avoid the accident".

Similar accidents

* 24 December 1953 –

Tangiwai disaster The Tangiwai disaster occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953 when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand. The locomotive and the first six carriage ...

–

Tangiwai Tangiwai is a census area and a small rural community in the Ruapehu District of the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located east of Ohakune and Rangataua and west of Waiouru on State Highway 49. In 2018 37.5% ...

, North Island,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

: the Tangiwai railway bridge over the

Whangaehu River The Whangaehu River is a large river in central North Island of New Zealand. Its headwaters are the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu on the central plateau, and it flows into the Tasman Sea eight kilometres southeast of Whanganui. Water is diverted ...

collapsed as the overnight

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alo ...

between

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

passed over it; the bridge supports had been weakened by a lahar a few minutes before the train passed. 151 people were killed. A passerby was not able to warn the train in time. The rebuilt bridge is equipped with high water warning devices. * 1880 –

Murrurundi Murrurundi( ), is a rural town located in the Upper Hunter Shire, in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Murrurundi is situated northwest by road from Newcastle and north from Sydney. At the the town had a population of ...

– night mail train derailed at a

washaway A washaway is a particular kind of landslide that can affect man-made structures such as cuttings, embankments and bridges. They are thus a hazard to railways and road traffic. Overview The biggest danger with washaways is that they may be ...

– 10 killed. * 25 January 1885 – Salt Creek near Cootamundra – night mail train derailed at a

– 7 killed.

Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin ''Australian Railway History'' is a monthly magazine covering railway history in Australia, published by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of its state and territory Divisions.Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

: Train caught in bridge washout; 97 known dead; 14 missing. * 27 September 1923 – near

Glenrock, Wyoming Glenrock is a town in Converse County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 2,576 at the 2010 census. History Glenrock, known as Deer Creek Station, had its beginning as a mail and stage station along the Oregon Trail. The station served ...

– a bridge over Coal Creek was washed away and a passenger train derailed, killing 30 of the train's 66 passengers. * 8 September 1945 –

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Bea ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

: An early morning mail train crashes after the adjacent canal flooded and washed away the track at Sun Bank, killing the driver and causing a fire. * 1993 – 114 perished in a passenger train which plunged into a river after floods washed away a bridge at Ngai Ndethya.

References

External links

BBC News ReportPhotograph of the wreckage
{{coord, 17, 22, 26, N, 78, 59, 58, E, region:IN-AP_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title 2005 disasters in India Railway accidents in 2005 2005 in India Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh Railway accidents and incidents in Andhra Pradesh Derailments in India Bridge disasters in India Bridge disasters caused by scour damage

Accident details

Similar accidents

See also

References

External links