Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 3 : The South Eastern Railway cancelled several trains on Saturday in light of the horrific accident in Balasore involving two passenger trains and a goods train on Friday evening.
According to a press release issued by the South Eastern Railways, more than 20 train services on Saturday were cancelled due to the derailment incident in Odisha.
The list of cancelled trains includes around six special journey trains and over 10 express trains.
"Balasore-Bhubaneswar Special, Jaleswar-Puri Special, Bangriposi-Puri Express journey, Kharagpur-Khurda Road Express, Kharagpur -Bhadrak Special, Howrah-Puri Express, Howrah-Secunderabad Express, Shalimar-Puri Express, Howrah- Sir M Visveswaraiya Terminal Express, Balasore-Bhadrak Special, Shalimar-Hyderabad East Coast Express, Howrah-Tirupati Express, Bhadrak-Howrah Express, Jajpur Keonjhar Road-Kharagpur Express, Howrah-Bhubaneswar Express, Bhubaneswar-Howrah Express, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express, Puri-Howrah Shatabdi Express, Bhadrak-Balasore Special, Bhadrak-Balasore Special, Puri-Shalimar Express, Puri-Anand Vihar Express, Bhadrak-Kharagpur Special and Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express are among trains commencing on Saturday whose services have been cancelled", the statement read.
Several coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed near Bahanaga station in Odisha's Balasore after hitting a goods train.
According to Railway spokesperson Amitabh Sharma, the accident took place around 7 pm on Friday.
"Around 7 pm, 10-12 coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed near Baleswar and fell on the opposite track. After some time, another train from Yeswanthpur to Howrah dashed into those derailed coaches resulting in the derailment of its 3-4 coaches," Sharma told ANI.
The derailment claimed the lives of more than 120 passengers and injured another 600.
Earlier, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said saving the lives of the injured passengers was the top priority of the state government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.
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